


The Mines of Kartos

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-04-26 23:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 28,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14413086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: The Doctor and Sarah are wrongfully convicted of a crime. Labouring in the mines of Kartos is a harsh sentence.





	1. Chapter 1

 “Hey, what are those two up to?” Sarah asked, as she and the Doctor were enjoying a nice stroll in a public park on the planet Kartos. “Looks shifty to me.” She pointed out the pair of men in a small ground-level tunnel built through a hill, attaching something to the wall. A moment later, the two ran off, which definitely raised Sarah’s and the Doctor’s suspicions.

 Without raising any suspicion to themselves, the couple changed direction to the tunnel and calmly walked into it. Sarah didn’t need to the Doctor to tell her what the two men had attached to the wall, not with the wires and ominous pack of something. “Really?” she asked. 

 “Looks like someone wants to spread a little mayhem,” the Doctor calmly responded, taking out his sonic screwdriver.

 “You be careful with that,” Sarah warned.

 “It doesn’t seem like a very complicated device.”

 “Should we try to catch them?” Sarah asked, the men having left the tunnel by now.

 “Disabling this is more important. Especially since there’s no timer.”

 “So it could be remotely activated?”

 “Yes.” The Timelord considered Sarah for a second, then pushed her behind his back. He refocused on the explosive device.

 Sarah didn’t question the motion, even though she knew if this thing went off… She appreciated the gesture.

 The Doctor grimaced when he realized what the bomb was made of. “That’ll certainly cause a…” he fell quiet again to concentrate.

 Sarah pressed her forehead against the back of the man’s grey jacket and gripped the sides of it. She had faith in his abilities.

 “Just about… and there!” The Doctor lowered his sonic screwdriver with a grin.

 Sarah relaxed her grip and pulled back as he turned to smile at her. Then she tensed again at the shout of “You two! Stop what you’re doing!”

 “We really need to break this habit of being seen at inopportune moments,” Sarah whispered. She saw one pair of policemen hurrying down one end of the tunnel.

 The Doctor faced the other pair of police coming down the other end, and slid the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. “Afternoon,” he greeted warmly when all four officers were close enough.

 “Hands up!” commanded one officer.

 With a sigh, the Timelord and Human complied with a quick glance to each other.

 “We received a call of two people in this tunnel, doing something that looked suspicious. What are you doing here?”

 “Standing with my hands up and talking to you,” the Doctor answered with a smile.

 “That attitude will get you nowhere.” The lead officer gestured to the object on the wall with his truncheon. “What’s this?”

 “That? Oh, it’s-“

 “It’s a bomb, sir!”

 “A bomb?!”

 “It’s not activated,” the other officer clarified. “Thank heavens.”

 “Caught you in time, did we?”

 “No, you don’t understand,” Sarah said first. “We were disarming it, not… The people who put it here went that way.” She took a couple of steps and pointed in the direction of the opposite tunnel entrance they had come in from. One of the officers took this as a threatening or escaping movement, and swiftly swung his truncheon at her. Sarah cried out at the blow to the side of her neck. “I’m not resisting!”

 The Doctor took her hand and pulled her back to his side, his friendly smile dropping. “That was not necessary.”

 “Explain this,” the lead officer prompted.

 “As she said, we were disarming it. We spotted two men attaching it here, came to see what it was after they left, and when I saw what it was, I knew I could help.”

 “Really?” the lead officer was clearly skeptical. “You just happened to see this and knew how to disarm it?”

 “I know a lot of handy skills like that.”

 There was no doubt they had not convinced the officers of any shred of innocence. The lead one made a gesture to the other three, and the Doctor and Sarah’s hands were quickly separated and handcuffed together in the front. They didn’t resist, knowing that would only affirm guilt in the eyes of the police.

 “I think you’re right about this habit, Sarah,” the Doctor remarked as three officers escorted them through the park. The last one caught up a minute later, the bomb in his hands.

 Once in the back of a squad hovercar, the Doctor immediately turned to Sarah and moved her hair back with his cuffed hands to see where she had been hit. “Are you alright?”

 “Hurts a bit.” Sarah winced when the man’s fingers gently pressed. “Okay, maybe a little more than a bit.”

 “I expect it’ll bruise, but it doesn’t look like there’ll be any lasting damage.” The Doctor place a small kiss to the top of the woman’s head before he leaned back against the seat.

 “What do you reckon the chances of anyone at the station believing us are?” Sarah whispered.

 “Depends,” the Doctor answered. He raised his voice so the two officers in front could hear him. “Depends if your superiors are as quick to jump to conclusions without wanting to hear anything else as you lot.”

 “I would be quiet if I were you,” the lead officer warned.

 “Anything we say can be used against us?” the Doctor supplied.

 “Something like that. It is also not advisable to annoy us.”

 The Doctor got the hint, and blew out a long breath. Sarah laid her head against his shoulder, thinking through possible ways they could talk their way out of this.

 ********

 The Doctor and Sarah had been waiting in a small jail cell for hours now, their only visitor an officer who had brought them dinner a couple hours ago. They had told their version of the events, but the evidence against them was too damning, and they knew it. Being found fiddling with a bomb in a public park was an uphill battle to claim innocence, much less claim they were actually stopping the bombing. Their description of the pair they had seen actually setting the bomb wasn’t detailed enough to send out a useful manhunt, and the person who had called the police had described them, not the actual perpetrators.

 “At least we still stopped a bombing,” Sarah stated, readjusting on the bench.

 The Doctor hummed. “Yes, we did. Whatever these people think of us, we did save many innocent lives.” He looked at the bruise on Sarah’s neck.

 “It’s not as painful as before. It’s more sore now,” Sarah said. Still, the Timelord had her tilt and bend her neck to prove the range of motion wasn’t affected too much before he was satisfied.

 The cell door opened to an officer and two more acting as guards in case the pair tried to make a run for it. “You have been found guilty of an attempted public bombing attack.”

 “But, we didn’t have a trial or appear in any court or-“

 The officer cut Sarah off. “We did represent your version of events, word-for-word from your official statement.”

 “Oh, well I suppose that’s perfectly fine, then,” Sarah replied sarcastically.

 “Your sentence is servitude. The specifics of which will be decided tomorrow morning.”

 “Swift justice, eh?” the Doctor responded. “Sometimes, it can be too swift.”

 “It is effective,” the officer stated. Then he left, locking the door behind him.

 “Servitude?” Sarah inquired.

 “Some sort of labour camp, perhaps.” The Doctor got off the bench and kneeled in front of Sarah. “Get some sleep.” He took off his vest- his scarf and jacket having been confiscated with the things in his pockets- and folded it. Then he placed it at one end of the bench and gestured for Sarah to lay down.

 “What about you?” Sarah laid down on her side, with her head on the makeshift pillow, and gave a little smile at the gentle hand on her hair.

 “I’ll be comfortable enough.”

 Sarah grabbed the front of the man’s shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. Then the Doctor rested his forehead against Sarah’s temple for a moment, before turning around and sitting with his back against the bench. Sarah recognized the protective positioning, and draped her arm over his shoulder. The Doctor patted her hand, and tilted his head back.

 “Nothing we can do at the moment…” he sighed.

 ********

 They were woken for breakfast. Then almost an hour later came the decision of their punishment. The same officer who had told them of their sentencing last night returned with two more officers, along with someone in a different uniform, with three guards of his own.

 “Come out,” the officer instructed. “Her first,” he added when the Doctor stood up first.

 Neither protested, and the Doctor put on his vest as Sarah stepped towards the open cell door first. She nearly wrenched her arm away from the grasp of one officer, stopping herself before she could possibly get another truncheon strike to the neck for it.

 One officer fastened a silver bracelet around her wrist, while the lead one explained, “This is a prisoner worker identification bracelet.” He pressed a small device to it for two seconds, and the clasp seemed to melt into the surface of the bracelet, making it completely smooth all around. It was tight enough to not slip off, but loose enough to allow two finger-widths between the metal and her skin. “You are unable to remove it.”

 “Wouldn’t do you much good if we could,” the Doctor remarked. He stepped forward once Sarah was outside of the cell. “So, ‘prisoner worker?’ Labour camp?” He raised his hand to receive a bracelet. He raised a brow at the lack of one prepared for him. “Well, come on then. Let’s get going.”

 “You are not going with her,” the lead officer informed.

 “What? That had better be a provocation and not a fact.”

 The two flanking officers shoved the Doctor backwards into the cell. Only now did the couple start to resist all of this. Sarah pounced towards the Doctor, arm outstretched to try to grab his hand as he shot back up to his feet. The non-police guards easily grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back. “Doctor!” she cried out. “Let me go!”

 The Doctor tried to push past the police, and his fingertips brushed against Sarah’s for the briefest of moments before he was shoved back into the cell. “Sarah!” he shouted as the guards holding onto her started to drag her away. He made another attempt, which only ended with one truncheon jammed into his side and another striking hard at the side of his neck. “Sarah!” Two officers grabbed him by the arms. “Sarah! Where are you taking her?”

 “Doctor!” Sarah kept reaching out to him and kicking at the guards.

 “Leave her with me or take me with her!” The Timelord was kicked down to his knees. “Sarah!” He could only watch as she was dragged around a corner and out of view. Her voice soon faded away, though he kept shouting out.

 The Doctor was practically tossed back into the cell, and the door closed. He was on his feet again in an instant, and banged on the door with a fist. “Where is she going? Bring her back!”

 The lead officer stepped up to speak through the barred section of the door. “That is not your concern. Your master will be here to collect you soon.” Then he and the other officers left.

 The Doctor made a hissed growling sound as he banged the door one more time. Then he turned and slid down the door until he was sitting on the floor with his back against it.

 “I will find you, Sarah. No matter what, I will find you.”


	2. Chapter 2

 “You really are a fiery spirit,” the man said to Sarah as his three guards forced her into the back of a hovercar waiting outside of the police station. She kicked and scratched at them, and tried to make a bolt for it when their grips on her arms slackened. She was caught by the man, who obviously had some position of authority.

 “Need any help?” offered a policeman at the station entrance.

 “Oh, I shouldn’t think so.” The man had Sarah in a tight hold, one arm around her chest and the other hand yanked Sarah’s arm up and behind her. He ignored her cry. He bent over low to say into her ear, “Do you really think it wise to attempt escape in front of a police station? Even if by some miracle you did, no one would help you, not with that bracelet on your wrist. In fact, anyone would be required to turn you in.”

 “We’re innocent!” Sarah shouted. “We were helping, not-“

 “Not according to the judge of your case.” The man spun Sarah into the grips of the guards, who managed to get her into the car this time.

 Sarah still didn’t make it easy for them, and even when they had restrained her wrists to the seat bottom with metal handcuffs, she kicked out at one, landing a strike to his shin and pushing him away from her.

 The leader of the group slid into the seat next to her, and Sarah demanded, “Where are you taking me? Who are you?” She tried to lift her hands, and grunted in frustration at the restraints. “Do this often, do you?”

 “It is necessary when all of our hard labourers are prisoners. I am Sason, in charge of the procurement and management of our labourers.”

 The car started moving, and Sarah turned to watch the police station where the Doctor still was fade into the distance. “Why are we being punished separately?”

 “Makes you easier to manage for whoever claims you for labour,” Sason explained. “Especially a pair of bombers.”

 “We didn’t do it! We’re inno-“ Sarah cried out as her head snapped to the side at the sudden backhand across her face.

 Sason moved in close to say, “You are not innocent. As such, you have no rights. Is that clear?”

 Sarah turned her face back to him, an expression of defiance on it. She clenched her fists when Sason moved her hair back to get a better look at the bruise on her neck.

 “From when they arrested you yesterday?”

 “I wasn’t resisting.”

 “Apparently, you were.” Sason covered the bruise back up. “I suggest you tamp down on your fiery streak before we get there. You don’t want to draw the attention of our disciplinarian.”

 “Likes to get violent, do they?”

 “He keeps our labourers in line with those methods, yes. He also enjoys a challenge.”

 Sarah wanted to rub at her still-stinging cheek and nose, and had to settle for moving her jaw to try to bring relief to it. “You still haven’t told me where you’re taking me.”

 Sason smiled as he settled back in the seat. “The Aktreus mine. The largest mine on Kartos.”

 ********

 The Doctor was lying on his back on the bench, his eyes closed and exterior calm. He was thinking through ways of escaping and finding out where Sarah had been taken. Nearly an hour after they had been separated, the cell door opened.

 The Doctor did not get up or even open his eyes. Instead, he mildly asked, “Where have you sent Sarah off to?”

 “That is not your concern.” It was the voice of the same lead officer from earlier.

 “Are you going to send me where she has been?”

 “No.”

 “Then I have no interest in whatever else you have to say.” The Doctor waved a dismissive hand above him.

 “Get up, your master is here to collect you.”

 “Are they now?” The Doctor let his hand drop back down to his side.

 At the lack of any other movement from the Timelord, the officer repeated the command. A moment later, the Timelord raised his arm to block the truncheon from coming down to his abdomen. He opened his eyes and let out a long sigh. “Well, if you must insist in that manner…” He sat up and looked to the open door. Satisfied, the officer backed off.

 “Please, be reasonable,” prompted a caually-dressed dark brown-skinned woman. She was flanked by two guards, in addition to the two policemen beside her. One of her guards held a box, with a bit of the long scarf visible over the side.

 “Be reasonable?” the Doctor repeated. “We’ve been wrongfully convicted of an attempted bombing, the justice system won’t entertain the possibility of our innocence, and now we’re sentenced to separate labour camps. Those aren’t the types of things that make me feel particularly reasonable.” He looked up to the lead officer, then stood, staring at him icily. “Where is Sarah?”

 “Wrist,” the officer ordered.

 The Doctor complied, and remarked, “Why should I be expected to be reasonable when you won’t answer a simple question?” He watched as the clasp of the bracelet melted into the rest of it.

 The lead officer pushed the Doctor out the cell door. “He’s all yours.”

 “Thank you,” the woman said. One of her guards took the Doctor’s arms and marched him out of the station to a waiting car. The other followed with the box of his things.

 The Timelord didn’t struggle, knowing it would be futile at this stage. He didn’t even protest to one hand being restrained to the seat. He didn’t speak, until a minute after they left the station. He turned to the woman sitting next to him, and asked, “Where am I to serve my sentence?”

 “Nakda Technological Labs, the engineering zone. I am Ketan, head mechanical and electrical engineer.”

 “An engineering lab?” the Doctor asked in surprise. “Isn’t that a bit… upscale for a prisoner labourer?”

 Ketan shrugged. “Scientific labs are always in need of workers and low-level assistants.”

 “And lab rats?”

 “You are not to be experimented on,” Ketan assured.

 “You do know that I was convicted on bombing charges? You don’t think this might be inviting trouble?”

 “Your work will be supervised and checked by highly educated and trained civilian engineers.”

 “I see.”

 Ketan looked to him with a friendly smile. “Some of the work will be tedious, but this is a far better place than most other prisoner labour options.”

 The Doctor turned to look out of his window at the passing scenery. “And you would give this better option to me, with the charges I have?”

 Ketan tilted her head in consideration, looking him over and waiting until he turned back to her to answer, “I would say that a person who is found arming a bomb has some useful skills that can be applied to engineering tasks, wouldn’t you?”

 “I suppose.”

 “What other skills do you have, Doctor?”

 The Doctor airily waved his unrestrained hand. “Several suited for engineering tasks.” He returned to staring out of the window, his thoughts never having left the subject of finding Sarah. Ketan took the hint, and didn’t continue talking to him.

 The Doctor closed his eyes and tilted his forehead against the glass, hoping that Sarah would not end up in one of the worse options.  


	3. Chapter 3

 “What’s this?” Ketan asked, picking the sonic screwdriver from the box of the Doctor’s things. They were now in the technological lab complex, in the living quarters assigned to the Timelord. Ketan was inspecting everything before letting the man have it all back.

 “Sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor supplied.

 “Sonic screwdriver? Impressive. How does it work?”

 “Sonic pulses and frequencies, with several different settings. Quite a handy little thing.”

 “Did you make it?”

 The Doctor nodded.

 “Well, now I have no doubt I was right to claim you to work here.” Ketan’s admiration turned to a nervous expression. “Was this what you used to try to arm the bomb?”

 “I was using that to disarm it,” the Doctor corrected. He reached out to take the device, but Ketan held it away.

 “I have to check this myself, to make sure it’s not dangerous for you to have. You understand?”

 “Of course,” the Doctor sighed. “Though, really, most things can be dangerous if used a certain way.”

 “Yes, well, I’m aware of that. If I find nothing troublesome, you’ll have it back tomorrow.” The engineer considered the rest of the objects in the box. “Everything else checks out.”

 “Thank you.” The Doctor picked up his jacket and scarf and hung them on a hook on the back of the front door.

 “Now, on to other business… You will be provided full meals three times a day, and clothing. Although, if you wish to wear your own clothes, that’s fine, and there is a clothing cleaning set in the restroom. We provide some leisure activities for both our regular workers and prisoner labourers, and you will have free time to take advantage of them or relax. Because of your status, these quarters will be locked once you are inside for the night, and not unlocked again until morning.” Ketan stood and stretched her shoulders. “Do you have any other questions?”

 “Who do you work for? Your clientele, I mean?”

 “The Nakda Technological Labs work for the good of everyone on Kartos.”

 “Government funded?”

 “Yes. We work with all other industries and aspects of life- medical, education, mining, power production…”

 “And what sort of projects will I be working on?”

 “I haven’t decided yet,” Ketan shrugged. “I will have by tomorrow morning. Anything else?”

 “I have more questions, but I doubt they’re ones you can answer.”

 Ketan smiled slightly at the response. “The workday is nearly over, but I will have these quarters locked as soon as I leave. Someone will then be here to collect you for the evening meal.”

 “Understandable,” the Doctor replied dismissively.

 Ketan didn’t remark on the man’s attitude, and simply waved goodbye as she left.

 The Doctor followed and hovered by the closed front door, hearing the external lock click. The door didn’t open at his presence as he stepped close enough for it to do so. Then he strode over to the computer unit, and turned it on. Maybe he could find out where Sarah had been taken.

 He only found disappointment with the computer having limited functions for him- a wide variety of music, some games, and access to information of some of the projects the engineering zone had done and was currently working on.

 After the third try to reprogram the computer to give him more access to anything outside of that, he gave up and leaned back in the chair. His mind then went to the possibilities of escaping, running through the security measures of the complex and how best to get around them.

 ********

  “Will you stop breaking my arm!” Sarah protested, trying to pull away from the iron grip around her bicep as she was taken down an entrance of the Aktreus mine. “I’m hardly able to go anywhere now!”

 Sason only tightened his grip, to where it would certainly bruise, and leaned down to say into Sarah’s ear, “If I wanted to break your arm, I already would’ve.” He straightened and said in a more friendly tone, “Besides, doing that wouldn’t leave you in the best condition to work.”

 “What would happen if you did break it?” Sarah challenged.

 “Oh, you’d still have to work. You’d be less productive, but your punishment for your crime would still be carried out.”

 “How savage of you.”

 “Savage?” Sason raised his brow. “We have doctors to tend to our labourers after any accidents or other means of gaining injury.”

 “I’m sure.” Sarah tried wrenching her arm away once more, and gave up when she was yanked back to Sason. The man did loosen his grip, now that he had made his point. Sarah fumed silently, but still did her best to remember the way and any details along the way, until they came to a residential area for the labourers. She was taken to what seemed like a welcoming center, although welcoming was definitely the wrong word, considering the nature of the man who had claimed her, and the oppressive atmosphere of this place. There were a couple more guards and a man who looked to be only a couple years older than her there, waiting.

 Sason finally let go of Sarah’s arm, and she rubbed at it as she glared at him before turning her attention to the other people in the room. Sason introduced the youngest man. “This is Ajrek, You can think of him as my second-in-command in managing the labourers for this quadrant of the mine.”

 “And just what does that mean?” Sarah demanded as Ajrek stalked closer to her, looking her over a few times.

 “He’s the one I warned you about. His main duty is as disciplinarian,” Sason stated.

 “I see.” Sarah wasn’t going to let herself be cowed by that. Still, she flinched back when Ajrek reached out to move her hair back from the bruise on her neck. She managed to stand her ground, and stare defiantly at him as he did so, trying to project that she was not afraid of him.

 “Cause trouble with the police?” Ajrek asked with a little smirk.

 “I wasn’t,” Sarah refuted.

 Ajrek ignored that, and slid his hand along the skin of Sarah’s neck, until his thumb rested on the bruise. Sarah shuddered, but was determined not to give way. This was an intimidation tactic, nothing more, and she had faced more intimidating people before.

 “There is a fire in you… Sarah, yes?” He didn’t wait for confirmation of her name. “Such fires have a way of being extinguished-“ Sarah let out a cry as the thumb pressed hard into the bruised skin, and she tried to shove him away, but a guard grabbed both of her arms from behind and kept her in place. “-in these mines.”

 Ajrek pressed against Sarah’s skin harder for a few more seconds, her body wilting in an attempt to get away, before he backed away. The guard let go of her, and she immediately brought a hand up over the bruise to feel for any new damage and to protect it from any more. She knew there was no point in saying the action was unnecessary, not with that predatory and cool expression on Ajrek’s face.

 “I would highly recommend following Sason’s advice, and not attract my attention,” Ajrek stated.

 “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” Sarah retorted.

 “Now, your clothes…” Ajrek went over to a shelf wall stacked with sets of clothes, all of the same type. He glanced back to Sarah, considered her size, and chose a set.

 “Take yours off,” Sason commanded.

 Sarah turned to the man with a “What? If you think I’m going to strip in front of you lot-“

 “That’s exactly what you’re going to do,” Sason cut off.

 “Any particular reason why?” challenged Sarah. “The police already searched me when we were arrested, so I couldn’t have anything on me.” This was another intimidation tactic, she knew. Make her strip, feel exposed and vulnerable to them. Still, knowing that didn’t stop her from beginning to feel those things at the prospect.

 “To protest something so minor…” Sason mused.

 “Min-“Sarah cut herself off, and didn’t bother with suggesting she change in a nearby closet or anything, knowing they wouldn’t allow her to. She glanced around at the men, wondering exactly what “no rights” meant in this particular instance. Surely there had to be rules in treatment of prisoners, despite what Sason had told her.

 “If you don’t do so willingly, the guards here will assist you,” Ajrek said with a little smirk.

 There was no way Sarah was going to let that happen. She took a steeling breath, and set her jaw as she pulled off her shirt. Still, she had to fight to stop her hands from visibly shaking, feeling all of their eyes on her.

 Sarah tried to stop at her underwear and bra, but Sason told her to continue. She wasn’t able to prevent her shaking hands as she did so.

 “No need to be nervous,” Ajrek said. “We’re not going to… take advantage of you.”

 The statement did nothing to lessen the anxiety that they would do something to her now. Sarah closed her eyes as the last of her clothes fell to the floor. She flinched as she heard the approaching presence. She opened her eyes and took a step back, but Ajrek only held out the folded clothes he had picked out.

 Without hesitation, Sarah took them and immediately put them on. The cotton undergarments, dark blue shirt, blue denim-like trousers and jacket were all comfortable and fit well enough.

 “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Sason taunted.

 Sarah’s hand briefly curled into a fist. She stopped herself from replying in defiance. “Is there… anything else?”

 “Ajrek will take you to your room, and then you will be let out when it is time to eat. Then tomorrow you will begin work.”

 “Straightforward enough,” Sarah commented.

 Ajrek picked three more sets of clothing and handed them to Sarah, then instructed her to follow.

 Sarah was thankful they didn’t feel the need to lead her by the arm again. The presence of the two guards behind her wouldn’t let her run off without needing physical restraint.

 They soon stopped in front of a barred prison cell-like room, and Ajrek pulled the door open. Bed, pillow, basic toilet and shower separated by a curtain… at least she wouldn’t have a cell-mate, and it was clean. A guard shoved her inside, and Sarah quickly turned to watch Ajrek close and lock the door.

 “Follow the rules and keep your head down, and your sentence will pass more quickly,” Ajrek advised before he left.

 With nothing else she could do, Sarah put her new clothes on the floor in the small storage unit under the bed, and sat on the edge of the bed, raising her fingers to her mouth. She could only wonder if the Doctor had been sent to somewhere like this, or maybe someplace better, or maybe someplace worse.

 She rubbed at the bracelet on her wrist, thinking what she could do now to escape and find him.


	4. Chapter 4

 For four days, Sarah kept her head down, not attracting attention of any guards while she did her work in the material processing part of the mining operation. It was physical work, but nothing she couldn’t handle. The mine was overall kept clean through a variety of ventilation and other systems, so she didn’t worry about breathing in harmful dust or smoke, not that she planned to be here long enough for that to become a real problem.

 She kept her eyes out for escape possibilities, learning the guard shift rotations, trying to understand how the security checkpoints worked, and calculating the distance between the mine and civilization. She also wondered if the bracelet on her wrist was more than identification, like if she tried anything, it would shock her or somehow otherwise incapacitate her. And even if it was only there for identification, how would she get the infernal thing off once she had escaped?

 That was a question for later. Escape first, find the Doctor, and they would figure out the bracelets together.

 Sarah tried to keep to herself as much as she could, not wanting to recruit anyone else in her escape attempt. She didn’t know who to trust, and who genuinely deserved to be here for whatever crimes they had committed. Trying to figure out who should be here and who might be in similar circumstances to her, thrown in despite innocence, would be difficult and take time.

 Sarah was taken from her tedious task of sorting mined materials at the sight of Ajrek coming in. He made daily rounds around this quadrant of the mine, though never at the same time every day.

 She kept working, determined not to let his presence unnerve her like it had the first day. Still, Ajrek had a habit of lingering around her longer than anyone else, almost like he was daring her to say or try something.

 Sarah nearly dropped the rock in her hand as a hand firmly grabbed her shoulder from behind. She was turned, and was face-to-face with Ajrek. This was the first time he had directly confronted her.

 “I see you are settling in well enough.”

 Sarah stayed quiet, though a brief thought to hit him with the rock flashed through her mind. She was being good, following the rules, doing everything to not attract attention. Why couldn’t he leave her alone?

 Ajrek grinned. “You don’t have to speak, but I still see that fire in you. Not that I would expect such a thing to go out within only a few days.” With that said, he let go and continued on his way.

 Sarah could only stare after him for a moment before remembering the rock in her hand and turning to place it on the correct conveyor belt. What had that been about? A warning? To show that he suspected her planning to escape?

 She reached up to grab her water bottle and took a long drink to calm her nerves. Contrary to what Sason and Ajrek had told her, they did have some rights as prisoners, including not being punished for no reason. She certainly wasn’t going to give Ajrek a reason until she was long gone.

 Not long now, she determined.

 ********

 Four days at the engineering laboratory complex, and the Doctor was no closer to finding out where Sarah was taken. His further efforts to hack into the computer system in his quarters hadn’t worked, so yesterday he had discreetly taken a security badge from one of the civilian engineers to see if he could gain access that way.

 It didn’t work, meaning that the computer access was tied to specific rooms and not security badges. He had a thought to break into that civilian worker’s room to gain access, but decided that would be too risky a venture to try now. He didn’t doubt he could get in, especially with the security badge and sonic screwdriver (which he was only allowed to have in his room and couldn’t bring it anywhere outside of that) in case of any trouble with that. But, he needed to tread carefully. He knew he was in a good place, and didn’t want to risk being given to some other labour option.

 Still, if he couldn’t soon figure a way to find Sarah from here…

 “Ketan wants to see you,” one of the security guards said, breaking the Doctor’s concentration on putting together a communication device.

 At first, the Doctor thought that someone had seen him discreetly drop the security badge near where he had pickpocketed it yesterday. Then he realized the guard’s face wasn’t upset or any more expressive than normal. “Oh, does she?” He hadn’t spoken to Ketan since she had returned his sonic screwdriver and given him his work assignment.

 “I’m to escort you to her office, unless you know the way?”

 “Ah… don’t believe I do. I can leave this here?” the Timelord asked of his partially-finished work on his table. At the guard’s nod, the Doctor got up and followed him.

 The guard didn’t say anything on the way, and the Doctor didn’t try to engage him in conversation. Despite the overall amiable atmosphere of the place, he was still their prisoner.

 Soon enough, they came to Ketan’s half-open office door. The guard knocked, and Ketan raised her head from her computer tablet with a smile. “Come in, Doctor. Petros, you can leave us.”

 The guard slightly bowed his head and closed the door after the Doctor entered.

 On Ketan’s desk were a few different devices, things that the Doctor had worked on assembling in his days here. Ketan’s friendly smile didn’t drop as she considered him for a moment before speaking. “I assigned you to an assembly team. But…” she picked up one of the objects. “It seems that your talents would be wasted there.”

 “My talents have been wasted in the past, so that’s nothing new,” the Doctor replied. “But what drew you to this conclusion?”

 “While checking your work, it has been found that you’ve created some improvements to the designs in your assembly. Increased power capacity, increased power storage, longer life, that sort of thing. You haven’t done these in every device you’ve assembled, but at least a couple of each one. Which says to me that you weren’t necessarily doing it on purpose.”

 “Interesting. I certainly didn’t mean to change your designs on purpose. I apologize for insulting anyone’s intelligence.”

 “Apology accepted,” Ketan said, with a hint of amusement.

 “I suppose I can’t help but to over perform on occasion.”

 “Indeed?” Ketan chuckled. “As for what to do with you about this…”

 “Are you going to reassign me?”

 “Not at the moment. We can learn from you. If you are able to unconsciously make these modifications in the assembly process alone, it would be best to leave you where you are, and study what you do.”

 “And your design teams wouldn’t like to be shown up by a prisoner?”

 “Perhaps there would be a little of that reaction,” Ketan shrugged. “You’re not in any trouble, Doctor.”

 “Oh, good, I rather hoped I wouldn’t be.”

 “In fact, you’re turning out to be the best prisoner labourer I’ve had so far. You’re also adjusting well.”

 “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

 “It was meant to be.” The engineer looked down at the devices in front of her. “If you have any memory on how you did these modifications, would you talk me through them?”

 The Doctor leaned forward in his chair, picking up one of the objects. “I think I can trigger my memory…”


	5. Chapter 5

 This was it, Sarah decided, as she ate her dinner. Her chance to escape was quickly coming. She didn’t eat too quickly, to hide her excitement and not appear like she was anticipating something. She had kept to herself, not caused trouble, hoped she looked the model of a perfect prisoner. They wouldn’t have any reason to suspect her.

 Dinner time ended. Sarah feinted tripping into a guard, and slipped his security badge that was clipped to his waist into her hand as they separated. She gave a nervous little smile as apology to him and joined the back of the group of the prisoners filing out of the cafeteria and back to the habitation area. They were allowed to mingle for an hour before they would be forced into their cells for the night.

 But, Sarah wasn’t even going to make it to the habitation area, where there would be too many guards around to try to slip back out of it. Instead, as they passed a little nook, she slipped sideways into it, pressed herself back against the rock wall and made herself as small as possible. She saw the guard at the back pass by, and stayed put for a moment longer, hardly daring to breathe. No one came back for her or seemed to realize she was missing from the group. Now was the time to move before someone could. They certainly would in about an hour. She had to be out of the mine completely by then. It hadn’t taken that long from the entrance of the complex to the habitation area when they had brought her here five days ago, so she had no doubt she could make it out in that time. Provided everything went well, of course.

 This was a daring escape, certainly, but she and the Doctor had done enough of those before. As much as she wished he was here with her for this, she could do it on her own. She’d had some experience with that as well.

 “Right… let’s go,” Sarah whispered, sliding out from her hiding spot, and darting across the way. She followed the signs to the exit, hiding behind whatever equipment and corner along the way at any sound. She kept her head on a swivel, now too far from the habitation area to claim she had simply gotten accidently left behind in the cafeteria and was making her way to her cell. She couldn’t afford to get caught now. While she did see a few guards, they didn’t spot her.

 Eventually, she came to the security gate at the same entrance she had been brought down here from. As expected, there were a couple of guards here, too. They were sitting at a small table and playing a sort of card game. There was no way she was going to be able to simply sneak past them, use the security badge, and make a run for it with them sitting there, no matter how inattentive they seemed. She had to distract them.

 Sarah picked up a couple of small rocks from the ground, picked a spot far enough from the gate, and threw them as hard as she could. She shrank back as one of the guards started to rise from his chair. His comrade put a hand on his arm and dismissed, “Probably just a rat getting restless or something.”

 “Pretty big rat,” the other one insisted, pulling his arm away to go check it out.

 When the second guard didn’t get up to join the first, Sarah threw some rocks the opposite way to get his attention. It worked, and he called out to his partner, “Very restless that way, too. I’ll check it out.”

 “Come on, come on…” Sarah muttered, waiting for them both to get far enough away from the gate. She threw a few more rocks towards both of them, and once satisfied they were checking out the “rat problem” enough, made a run to the gate.

 She swiped the stolen badge in front of the reader on the gate, and she smiled as it lit up green and clicked open. She opened the gate just enough to slip through, closed it, and hid in a crevice in the rock wall only a few meters from the gate. Just in time, as she heard the guards return to their table and card game.

 She peered out to make sure they were fully engrossed in their game before quietly scurrying up the rampway. She remembered there was another checkpoint at the surface entrance, and hoped she could similarly distract any guards there.

 Footsteps sounded from the corridor ahead that branched to the left. Sarah quickly turned and pressed herself against the wall. When the sound stopped, she let out her baited breath and stepped out to continue on.

 She only made it a little farther, to the branching corridors, and let out a yelp as her arm was grabbed by a strong grip.

 “Got you!”

 Sarah immediately started to struggle against the guard, beating on his forearm to force him to let go so she could run.

 The guard wrenched Sarah’s arm up sharply, causing her to cry out and stop long enough for him to tap his earpiece and report, “Ajrek, I’ve got an escapee on the way to the west entry.”

 Sarah didn’t hear the reply as she continued to try to twist away and hammer at his arm. She resisted the urge to cry out, not wanting to attract any more attention. Although from the sound of it, she would have Ajrek’s attention soon.

 Sarah cried out sharply as a backhand exploded across her face. It would’ve sent her to the ground if not for the iron grip on her arm. At the sight of the security badge that did land on the ground, the guard remarked, “A thief as well.”

 Sarah didn’t respond, bringing her free hand up to the stinging sensation in her cheek. Then she kicked at the man’s shin. He dodged it easily enough, and swept one of her legs out from under her. She grimaced as her shoulder in the man’s grasp protested the half-fall and stop, and she scrambled back to her feet.

 The guard picked up the stolen badge, and started dragging Sarah back the way she had come. She continued to fight back, and the guard dissuaded her with a blow to the side of the head that left her dazed enough to stop.

 Soon enough, the sight of the gate she had made it through spurred her to try escaping the grasp again, even though she knew that without the stolen badge, she wouldn’t make it past the entrance at the top. Then she froze when she realized Ajrek was waiting for them on the other side. It only lasted a second before she started fighting back again. In response, the guard simply spun her around by the arm.

 Sarah barely had a second to raise her free hand in front of her face to protect it from the rock wall. Bits of stone poked at her palm before she was yanked back, now too shaken to by what had nearly happened to continue on struggling.

 The gate opened, and the guard shoved her through it, sending her to her knees. She quickly scrambled back up to her feet, and saw she now had nowhere to go. The closed gate, the guard who had caught her, and Ajrek in front of her. Around were another five guards.

 “Nice attempt. I wondered when you would try something such as this, fire-spirit,” Ajrek said.

 “I don’t like to disappoint,” Sarah retorted.

 “The work you are doing is too lenient now. You will be transferred to digging tomorrow,” Ajrek stated.

 “Well, if that’s all, I’ll go back to my cell now.”

 Ajrek stepped closer. “I doubt that alone will teach you.”

 The warning about how this man liked to use violence to keep unruly prisoners in line flashed through Sarah’s mind, an instant before a fist came at her face.

 Sarah fell to the ground, clutching at her jaw. She looked up, and there was no mistaking Ajrek’s expression for anything except sick satisfaction that she had tried to escape, and that he now got to punish her for it.

 Ajrek seized a handful of Sarah’s hair to pull her back up to her feet, then served three knees to her abdomen, leaving her doubled over and breathless. Before she could recover from that, her head was yanked up again by her hair. The hand let go, and she barely ducked the fist in time.

 She didn’t see the low kick to her knee, and went down again with a cry of pain. A foot stomped on her hand and stayed there, pinning it to the ground. Sarah tried to yank it from underneath, but Ajrek only ground his boot down harder.

 “You were warned not to attract my attention.”

 “I wasn’t-“ Sarah broke off with a short shout of pain at the kick to her elbow. “-t-trying to!”

 “It is the result that matters.” Ajrek lifted his foot from her hand, and watched as she brought it to her chest to protect it.

 Sarah had gotten up to one knee when Ajrek kicked her squarely in the chest, forcing her down to one hand, coughing for breath. He quickly followed up with a savage kick to her abdomen. She went the rest of the way down to curl up on the ground.

 “Oh no you don’t. We’re not done.”

 Sarah tried to fight back as Ajrek grabbed her wrist and yanked her back up to her knees. “Stop, please! I-I won’t do it again!”

 Ajrek didn’t stop, and a punch to her face split her lip. Another made blood spurt from her nose.

 It was all Sarah could do to try to protect herself, to absolutely no avail. Ajrek was brutal with his fists and kicks and other strikes.

 By the end of the beating, Sarah was on the ground, shaking and sobbing through the pain, her eyes closed and leaking tears. She heard Ajrek dismiss the guards, and footsteps go away from her.

 She simply laid there for a few moments, her sobbing turning to shallow whimpered breaths. Her entire body felt battered in some way.

 Her relief at the violence ending went away in an instant as Ajrek kicked her over onto her back and straddled her waist. As he leaned over her, Sarah got a punch in, but it barely glanced the man’s jaw before he grabbed it and pinned it to the ground beside her head. She tried again with her other hand, but it too was restrained. With nothing left, she spit up at his face, saliva and blood sticking to his cheek and bridge of his nose.

 Ajrek only chuckled at the behavior. “See? You haven’t learned.”

 Sarah didn’t verbally respond, only glared up at him with as much contempt as her bruising eyes could muster.

 “Not that I expected you to. As you said, you don’t disappoint.”

 Sarah weakly struggled to free her wrists from his grasp.

 Ajrek only bent over further. “By attempting escape, you have given me permission to punish you in whatever way I see fit. This does not end here. I anticipate tomorrow.”

 All Sarah could do was shiver at the words and tone of the man. Ajrek smiled in appreciation of her fear, then got up off her. He called for a guard to take her to the medical personnel. She didn’t protest as she was roughly dragged up to her feet and half-carried away.  

 ********

 “…tor? Doctor?”

 The Doctor snapped back into the moment, and looked down to his hands, confused as to why they had frozen in midair. A bit of noodle fell from his fork and back to his plate. He noticed that the noodles and meat now had drops of crimson on them, which confused him even more, until he felt the warm liquid running down the lower half of his face and the slight darting of his tongue over his bottom lip resulted in the taste of blood. His free hand came up to check if that’s what it was. He stared at it for a few seconds. Then he dropped his fork, and quickly stood, with only an “excuse me,” to the woman across the table.

 The Doctor held his hand over his mouth, the thumb and forefinger pinching his nose to help stop the heavy flow of blood. He hurried to the nearest restroom to inspect what had happened.

 He removed his hand, and quickly covered it again as the blood resumed flowing from his nose. The whole lower half of his face was smeared with dark red, and he did his best not to taste it. He grabbed a handful of paper towels and held them to his face, tilting his head back to assist with stopping the nosebleed.

 Nothing had happened, which is what really confused the Timelord. He had simply been eating dinner, and then his face was covered in blood. Going by the reaction from the other person, he had simply frozen between those two moments.

 With a sigh, the Doctor sat on the edge of the row of sinks. He didn’t suffer from nosebleeds, no matter the climate or atmosphere. Sarah had a few times from that kind of thing in their travels, but it wasn’t something he…

 Sarah. Something was happening to Sarah. Something violent. He had felt no pain, but something violent could’ve triggered this telepathic reaction. They had a link, only activated by touch and intent, but there was the possibility that that wasn’t the only way it could be stimulated.

 The Doctor’s head tipped forward with a bout of light-headedness. No doubt a reaction from the blood loss and whatever telepathic occurrence that had made him black out. “Sarah…” he breathed.

 He had to go find her, and he would escape tonight.

 ********

 “Doctor, stop,” called out the voice of Ketan from behind him.

 The Doctor turned off the sonic screwdriver and stopped fiddling with the lock of the door. He turned as the corridor lights came on. Ketan approached, wearing pyjamas. She wasn’t armed, but there was a guard behind her.

 “I apologize for getting you out of bed,” the Doctor said with a little smile.

 “That can be forgiven. The reason why is what I’m interested in.”

 The Doctor glanced from her, to the door, then back again. “I would think that’s obvious.”

 “Don’t,” Ketan warned.

 The Doctor tilted his head.

 “I won’t have them harm you unless you force my hand, but you shouldn’t continue with this. You won’t even make it out of the complex.”

 “I need to go, now.”

 “To find the friend you were arrested with.”

 “Exactly, yes. I won’t cause any damage to your systems.” The Doctor turned back to continue with the door. “So if you’ll-“

 “Doctor, I said don’t. You know I can’t let you do this.”

 “You can,” the Doctor replied, spinning back to face her. The ends of his scarf fluttered around his feet with the motion.

 Ketan shook her head. “I’m not going to risk the reputation of my lab complex to allow you to escape.” She crossed her arms. “Besides, what will you do?”

 “You said it. Look for Sarah.”

 “And what will you do about the bracelet? You can’t remove it without the proper authorization key.”

 “I’ll find a way.”

 Ketan smiled slightly. “Perhaps you could.” Her expression became serious again. “But what about until you do? No one will help you find her. They’ll turn you in, and that would be unfortunate.”

 “Yes, being arrested again would be,” the Doctor replied flippantly.

 Ketan shook her head and stepped closer to the man. “The punishment for escape would be very harsh indeed. Especially with the severity of the original crime.” At the Doctor’s hard glare, she corrected, “Alleged original crime.”

 “I have to find Sarah. Something’s happened to her, and I need to find her.”

 “How do you expect to do that?”

 “I’ll find a way. Nothing for you to worry about.”

 Ketan considered him for a moment, and shook her head. “This is not the way.”

 “I won’t sit here and do nothing.”

 “You are a prisoner, Doctor. That is what you will do. I would have no excuse not to call the authorities. I would regret having to do that.” Her expression softened. “Hand over your device.” As the Doctor complied, she added, “Meet me in my office after breakfast.”

 The Doctor nodded his head, cooperating, because he knew she was right. He couldn’t risk getting arrested again, not with having been caught now. He would simply have to try again tomorrow night, if the disciplinary actions that would surely come in the morning would allow. Without another word, he went back to his quarters, escorted by the guard.


	6. Chapter 6

 “You’re a problem,” Ketan stated as the Doctor walked into her office.

 The Doctor raised his brow with a little grin. “I’ve heard that about me several times in my life.”

 “I don’t only mean about the escape attempt last night,” Ketan replied. “Please, sit.”

 The Timelord sat, and frowned. “I thought I was a model prisoner otherwise.”

 “You are, yes.” Ketan leaned back in her chair to look the man over. “You’re a problem, because I’m starting to believe that you are not guilty of the crime that brought you here.”

 “What’s changing your mind?”

 “A few things. The question is what to do about it.”

 The Doctor decided this was the opportunity to push. “I need your help, Ketan. In finding Sarah, at the very least.”

 Ketan’s eyes widened slightly. “What makes you think I can help you?”

 “I’ve been doing a little digging on you. You have influence, as a well-known and respected scientist.”

 “I can’t gain access to police files like that. I don’t have legal influence.”

 “Perhaps not you. Maybe a friend of yours?”

 Ketan shook her head. “And I won’t engage in any sort of espionage tactics to find out where your friend was sentenced to labour.”

 “Yes, yes, I understand. You can’t risk yourself or this lab like that.” The Doctor looked down to his hands on his lap.

 “For all I know, I could be being taken for a fool by your likeable demeanor.”

 Without looking up, the Doctor replied, “You said there were a few reasons why you suspect I’m innocent. More than only finding me likeable.”

 Both people were silent for a long moment, then Ketan picked up her computer tablet and started pressing buttons. The Doctor didn’t look up from his hands until she cleared her throat and held the tablet out to him.

 The screen showed a photo list of explosive devices. The Doctor looked up to the engineer with a silent question.

 “Do you remember what the explosive device looked like? I’m not allowed access to look at any police evidence,” Ketan prompted. “This is the only way I can test my suspicions.”

 “Yes, I have a great memory.” The Doctor took the tablet and started scrolling through the list.

 ********

 The sound for the midday lunch break played over the loudspeakers. Sarah leaned sideways against the rock wall, nearly dropping the pickaxe in her hand. She breathed heavily from the physical exertion of the morning. This was definitely more exhausting than the work she had been doing the previous days. The bruises seemingly everywhere on her body only made the labour worse. She realized how nice she had had it, if any of this could be considered nice, and the work reassignment made her regret the escape attempt, in addition to the savage beating.

 Sarah shook her head at those thoughts, grabbed her near-empty water bottle from nearby, and followed the other prisoners to the cafeteria. She didn’t regret the escape attempt last night, no matter the consequences. Regret and fear of such consequences would only make her accept the injustice done to her, and she certainly was not going to do that. She refused to be cowed by Ajrek.

 Sarah didn’t make it into the cafeteria. Near it, she was suddenly yanked out of line. She dropped her bottle to try to pry the strong hand off her. “Okay, okay! You don’t have to break my arm!” Sarah protested at the rough treatment of the guard. He didn’t let go or even ease his grip around her upper arm at all.

 She didn’t have to ask what this was all about. Forcing her to skip lunch had to be part of the punishment from Ajrek. She was hungry, yes, but this was something she could handle.

 What she had not been expecting, near the gate she had escaped out of last night, was the sight of Ajrek, surrounded by five guards, with something that looked very much like a whip coiled in his hand. She dug her heels into the dirt to try to stop from getting closer, to no avail. The attempt only resulted in the guard grabbing her with both hands and practically tossing her into the circle.

 Sarah immediately bolted back up to her feet and fixed Ajrek with a glare. “Look, I won’t try to escape again. I’ve learned my lesson.” Her gaze nervously flickered to the whip. She took a step back as Ajrek approached with a little grin.

 “Your mouth says so, but your eyes say something else.”

 “Sorry, force of habit.” Sarah moved her eyes downward, hoping to appear more submissive. Still, she couldn’t stop her hands fisting at her sides. She flinched away at the whip handle lifting her chin, but Ajrek’s hand shot out to seize a handful of hair at the back of her head to keep her there.

 Ajrek stroked down Sarah’s face with the whip handle, lingering over the edge of her bruised eye. “This will hurt.”

 Sarah couldn’t help but try to fight as two guards grabbed her arms and forced her down to her knees. She knew it only proved Ajrek’s point that she hadn’t learned the lesson yet, but she had to try. The exhausting work of the morning and lingering effects of the beating made the struggle pointless.

 She threw her head back to get her hair from her face, and realized they had faced her towards the gate, to make it clear what they were punishing her for and to drive the lesson in that escape would be impossible. Sarah squeezed her eyes shut as her arms were held out and the back of her shirt was lifted to expose the skin.

 “I’m curious how long you’ll last.”

 Sarah wasn’t mentally prepared for the intense stinging biting pain of the first lash across her back, not that any amount of time would’ve been enough, and a scream forced its way out of her wide-open mouth.

 Her scream faded, and behind her she heard, “One.”

 Knowing what it felt like didn’t ease the pain of the next strike. This scream ended with a sob.

 “Two.”

 Clenching her teeth did nothing for the next strike, and a choked cry escaped between them. She couldn’t hold her head up any more, and let it hang, her hair curtaining around her face.

 “Three.”

 Each strike hurt just as badly as the previous one, if not more, with the pain building upon the last. Sarah’s voice rapidly became hoarse, her sobs became louder. Her vision, when her eyes opened, began to grey at the edges.

 “Seven.”

 That was the last thing Sarah was aware of as her body slackened completely in the grips of the guards, and her eyes stayed closed.

 ********

 The Doctor cried out at the sudden agony that flared across his back, and his knees buckled at the intensity. He managed to stay upright by gripping the edge of the table.

 “Doctor?” Ketan asked, concerned. She hurried around the table to help support him if he needed it.

 “Sarah…” the Timelord groaned, kneeling down and resting his head on the table. He closed his eyes. He felt Ketan’s hand on his back.

 “Do you need medical attention?”

 The Doctor shook his head, and took a few deep breaths to work through the lingering pain. “Telepathic feedback,” he explained. “Just give me a minute.” The woman’s hand left him, and she returned a moment later with a cup of water. The Doctor gratefully took it and drank it in one go.

 The Doctor stood and shook his head. “Where were we?” He rubbed his hand down his face.

 “Telepathic feedback?” Ketan asked as she disposed of the cup. “With Sarah?”

 “Yes,” the Doctor answered, in a tone that said he wouldn’t like to expand on the statement any more than that. He turned his attention to the explosive device on the table, which Ketan was partway through taking out the dangerous bits. It was a construction demolition charge that had been delivered only a few minutes ago. He had determined that this was indeed the exact model of the one he and Sarah had been found with.

 “If you need to step out for-“

 “I’m fine. I can do this now.”

 “Okay… right,” Ketan returned to her work, while the Doctor simply watched.

 After a couple minutes, Ketan straightened, and held out the sonic screwdriver. “I believe you were using this?”

 “Thank you.”

 “The explosive charge is disarmed.” Ketan picked up her computer tablet and set up the video recording feature. “We are good to go. I want you to arm it using your device, then disarm it. Whenever you’re ready.”

 The Doctor focused on the set task, taking a much shorter time to arm the bomb than to disarm it.

 Ketan ended the recording and sat on the stool. “You would have to be incredibly stupid to linger so long to be caught after arming it…” she mused.

 With the immediate task done, the Doctor’s mind drifted to Sarah. What was happening to her, wherever she was? Still, he wasn’t going to attempt escape again. He now had a better course of action, and had to hope that she would be fine until this one worked out. He had faith in her strength and resilience.

 “I am coming for you,” the Doctor whispered. “I promise.”

 ********

 Sarah awoke very slowly. She cracked open her eyes halfway to see she was in her cell. She could hear the socializing prisoners nearby, meaning it was after dinner. Her rumbling stomach only confirmed that she had indeed missed two meals.

 Hunger was the least of Sarah’s concerns. Her back felt like it was on fire, a throbbing sort of pain. It was bearable though, as long as she didn’t move too much or too quickly.

 Very gingerly and slowly, she turned onto her side, then maneuvered her hand to slide up the back of her shirt. She felt no bandages or any hint of dried blood. She hissed and withdrew at the instant agony that flared when her fingers moved over a welt across her skin.

 She gritted her teeth and felt it again, this time more prepared. The skin felt raw and painful, but there was no evidence of it having been cut open by the whip. She wished she could get a look at the damage done to her, but was relieved that her back wasn’t torn up like she had been expecting.

 “Seven,” she remembered, and counted the lashes by touch, wincing at the pain whenever she touched one. “Seven,” she repeated in confirmation, and withdrew her hand.

 She fell into sleep a few minutes later.


	7. Chapter 7

 “Is there anything else we can do right now?” the Doctor asked after swallowing a mouthful of vegetables. He and Ketan were having dinner together in her private quarters.

 Ketan shook her head. “I sent all the footage and my request this morning. It’s out of our hands now.”

 The Doctor sighed and looked down to his plate, absentmindedly twirling his fork around the meat and pasta. He knew that, in addition to the footage of him arming and disarming the detonation explosive with the sonic screwdriver, then again with conventional tools, Ketan had also recorded herself doing it with the same tools, and another engineer doing the same task as well. All four tests had the same result. Disarming took a significant amount of time longer than arming it. It was to serve as point of comparison that he wasn’t faking to look innocent.  

 “It took me a good while last night to figure out how to word my request for them to look at this evidence,” Ketan informed.

 The Doctor snapped out of his thoughts and raised his fork to his mouth. “No one questions the legal system here? Looking at all the evidence, being unbiased, their decisions?”

 “It’s efficient and effective. It’s not perfect, but… it does get the job done.” The engineer took a bite of her meal, and let out a long breath. “But, if you truly are innocent, then we know of one case where the system has been… too efficient.”

 “I highly doubt this would be the first time this error would’ve happened.”

 “Yes, this all does make me wonder.”

 Both were quiet for a couple minutes, then the Doctor asked, “In your request for them to look at this new evidence, did you also ask that they tell you where my partner in crime, so to speak, was sentenced?”

 “I apologize, but I couldn’t. I can’t push for too much right now. If they get enough doubt of your guilt, then I would have more leverage to ask.” At the flicker of exasperation on the Timelord’s face, Ketan said, “I know it must be difficult to not be impatient, but there’s only so much I can do. Wherever Sarah is, there are rules and regulations in the treatment of prisoner labourers. They can’t purposely maim, permanently injure, or kill her. Even the harshest of places must adhere to those rules.”

 “I know you’re doing what you can, and I must thank you for that.” The Doctor smiled a little at the woman. “I only wish they hadn’t decided to separate us like they did.”

 Ketan pondered the thought for a moment. “If they hadn’t separated you, I might not have been able to claim you. You both could be wherever she is.”

 “Or we both could be here. You run a good program here for your labourers. At least I’d know she was safe and cared for. Both of us would be.”

 “Perhaps. I can say for certain that with the way it worked out, you at least have an ally.”

 “Yes, one of some influence,” the Doctor agreed. He finished his dinner, and bid Ketan a good evening.

 The Doctor went to his quarters, and plopped down on the sofa. He closed his eyes, thinking if there was anything else they could do to speed up the process of finding Sarah and proving their innocence.

 Without warning, an electric shock spread from his neck and seized up his muscles. He gritted his teeth and his eyes squeezed shut tightly as he cried out from the unexpected pain.

 He had no choice but to ride out the agony, his muscles spasming at the phantom electricity coursing through him.

 When it finally stopped, he found himself curled up in a ball on the floor. He slowly uncurled himself and sat up. He had to take a few breaths to steady himself, though his hands still trembled slightly after several such breaths. Then he closed his eyes again.

 He wasn’t sure if he wanted to have any more of this psychic feedback from Sarah. On one hand, it served to tell him that she was indeed alive. But on the other, it meant she was suffering. He had a nasty suspicion she was being harmed on purpose, and that these weren’t accidents of any kind.

 No, he didn’t want to feel any more of this, because it meant she wasn’t being hurt. He always had faith in Sarah’s ability to survive through tough situations. Her being hurt badly… well, he’d do anything to make that stop.  

 Despite Ketan’s earlier assurance about how Sarah was being treated, he was still impatient and worried. There was no action he could take right now, and it made him feel so… helpless.

 The Doctor simply laid back on the floor and folded his arms over his chest, his thoughts going back to thinking of other useful things he could do to help their situation.

 His fingers kept slightly twitching.

 ********

 Sarah weakly tugged at the shock collar around her neck, having barely any strength left to even raise her hand that far. She was curled up tightly on herself on the ground, once again in front of the gate she had gotten through a couple of nights ago. She was a shaking sobbing mess, defenseless and at Ajrek’s mercy.

 She couldn’t even flinch away at the feel of breath against her face. She opened her eyes and raised her head enough to see that Ajrek was now lying on his front so very close to her.

 “Look at me, Sarah,” Ajrek commanded.

 She did, raising her eyes to his.

 “Your eyes, they have changed a bit.” Ajrek grinned, showing teeth and looking even more like a predator in this position. “Enough to convince me that you are learning this lesson.”

 Sarah did flinch when the man laid his hand on the side of her head. She didn’t say anything, not trusting her mouth and throat to work properly after all the screaming. She only moved her gaze down to the dirt.

 “Good,” Ajrek cooed, almost like he was praising a pet. “That’s very good.” His hand on her head even petted her hair a little. “I won’t punish you again after this, unless you give me reason to.”

 Sarah looked to his face again at the statement, gratitude on her features.

 “You will be more restricted than the others for a few days, but these little sessions are done. Don’t attract my attention again, or the consequences will be worse.”

 Worse? The past three nights of punishments had already been so harsh and nearly unbearable. What could be worse than a savage beating, a whipping that had left her unconscious, and now being electrically shocked until she was in this state? She certainly wasn’t going to tempt regaining Ajrek’s attention again to find out. Sarah nodded her understanding.

 “Just one more thing.”

 Sarah’s brow furrowed, waiting for him to say whatever it was. She looked forward to being taken back to her cell and left in peace.

 Her eyes went wide as she felt a slight buzz around her neck a split-second before the intense electric shock began. She could do nothing, and felt nothing but pain flowing through her nerves up and down her body. She could only manage a long whimper in place of a scream from her abused throat.

 Her shaking hands went slack, quickly followed by the rest of her body, and she was barely aware that the torture had stopped, until she felt someone pick her up and sling her over his shoulder.  From her position hanging limply down, the brown of the dirt ground gradually faded to grey, then black.


	8. Chapter 8

 The Doctor looked up from working on putting together an electronic tool to the approaching security guard.

 “Ketan wishes to see you,” the guard informed. “You know the way to her office?”

 “Yes, thank you.” The Timelord rose and headed that way, hoping this meant Ketan had news on their case and possibly even of Sarah.

 Ketan had a smile when the door to her office slid open at the Doctor’s presence. The Timelord took the open seat, and looked at her expectantly.

 “They have decided to review your case.”

 The Doctor let out a relieved breath, then asked, “How long should that take?”

 Ketan shrugged. “I wish I could say. To be honest, I am surprised they decided to do this.”

 “I suppose so, if the justice system isn’t usually questioned like this.”

 “I believe things are working in your favor.” Ketan passed over her computer tablet. “In addition to the evidence I submitted…”

 The Doctor read the open news report from that morning. “Another attempted bombing in the same area as that park?”

 “Exactly. Same area, same type of explosive device found.”

 “Someone didn’t appreciate that we foiled their previous attempt, and tried again,” the Doctor concluded.

 Ketan nodded. “On its own, it wouldn’t be of any help to you, since it would simply look like you and Sarah are part of a bigger organization.”

 “But, in addition to what you sent…”

 “It changes the possible story to that of being purposely set up, or simply being seen in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

 “The second happens a fair bit to us.” The Doctor skimmed through the rest of the article. “Thankfully, someone found it and reported it to the police before it could go off. No one was injured. Not the best at this sort of thing, whoever these people are.”

 When the Doctor set the tablet down the desk, Ketan leaned in to say, “I was able to find out about Sarah.”

 The Doctor leaned in to hear every word. “Yes, anything at all would be good to hear.”

 “I asked what they would do with you both while they review your case. They have decided to keep you both working where you are. I suppose there’s no sense in moving you if they don’t decide to overturn their original sentence.” She noticed the man trying to hide the impatient expression on his face. “They let slip that she is working in the Aktreus mine.”

 The Doctor immediately asked, “How far is it from here? What are the conditions there? Can we-“

 Ketan cut off the questions by laying her hand on the Doctor’s. “We cannot do anything with this information.”

 The Doctor took a deep breath to reign in his immediate thoughts of rescuing Sarah. “More waiting, then.”

 “Until they have looked over your case, yes, unfortunately, more waiting.”

 The Doctor leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes for a moment.

 “I tell you this with the trust that you won’t try anything drastic.”

 “I understand. What about doing something… subtle?” the Timelord asked in a teasing tone.

 “If by subtle you mean nothing, then yes,” Ketan replied with a slight smile. “I will also tell you that a portion of what this scientific complex does is related to mining, and as such, the Aktreus mine is part of our work.”

 “It’s a client?”

 “You could say that.”

 “You have a connection to this mine.”

 “Doctor, we have connections to most industries. This is nothing special.” Ketan sighed. “I think I see where your thoughts are going. Doing something like… going there to perform an inspection of equipment, to hide the true purpose of finding Sarah, would achieve nothing. Aktreus is the largest mine on Kartos, with different sections and zones that she could be assigned to.”

 The Doctor nodded his understanding, and was quiet for a moment. “Do you think they’ll tell the people running the Aktreus mine that Sarah’s status is in question?”

 Ketan shook her head. “They wouldn’t have reason to, unless they rule in your favor.” Once again, she placed her hand on the man’s. “I understand your anxiety, but remember what I said yesterday about the rules all places that use prisoner labourers must follow.”

 “It doesn’t stop her from being hurt.” Then the Doctor smiled, “I really am very appreciative of everything you’ve told me. This is a good step to resolving this situation.”

 “Let’s hope it doesn’t take a step backwards.”

 Now with this new information, the Doctor silently started thinking of plans in case of that very occurrence.

 ********

 Sarah was so exhausted, the backbreaking work only made worse by the punishments of the past few nights. She could barely lift the pickaxe with seemingly every muscle and nerve protesting. Even though she knew that there wasn’t a shock collar around her neck to make it all worse, she could swear she still felt a tingling in her fingertips. It had to be her imagination, brought on by everything.

 She was also hungry. Apparently part of her continued punishment was to be forced to work through the lunch break today. In addition to the other skipped meals over the past few days, she wasn’t running on a full stomach.

 Despite all that, she lifted the pickaxe over her head and brought it down at the rocky wall again. She didn’t want to be roughed up by the guards for not doing her work to add to her collection of aches and pains and bruises.

 At the moment, her deepest desire was to curl up in bed on the Tardis, with the Doctor’s arm holding her close and his breath in her hair. She felt she could sleep for an entire day. The Doctor would suggest she spend at least that long resting in bed to let her battered body heal, and she would gladly take it.

 Sarah didn’t let these thoughts drag her into despair at knowing that, for all she could do about her situation right now, the Doctor and the Tardis might as well be on another planet entirely. No, her incarceration was simply a temporary situation. She’d been in worse before. This wasn’t any different from any of those, and she would find a way out of it.

 Thinking of being home with the Doctor only served as motivation to get through the tough conditions of the work and of her collected punishments. Whatever Ajrek might think, he hadn’t broken her, and he was extremely arrogant to think he could do that.

 Imagining herself cuddled up in bed with the Doctor carried her through the next two days.


	9. Chapter 9

 Another day, another section of rock to chip away at. At least by now, the various aches plaguing Sarah’s body had begun to fade, making the work not as painful. It didn’t make the work any less tedious and exhausting. Sarah kept going through her memories of her life with the Doctor, and before that, to keep her mind occupied.

 Sarah was eased out of her thoughts by the prisoner nearest her tapping her shoulder. “What?” she whispered, not wanting to attract attention.

 “Hear that?” the man asked.

 Sarah lowered her pickaxe to listen. She noticed others doing the same. Then she heard, or rather felt, a low vibration under her feet. She couldn’t tell if it was coming from further down this tunnel or from somewhere far below. Whatever it was, she figured it wasn’t normal, if everyone who had been doing the actual mining long before her was reacting to it.

 A moment later, the guards started gathering everyone to head back up. It was nearing dinner time, but Sarah could sense the urgency in them, and guessed that whatever the source of the rumbling was what was responsible.

 Sarah didn’t panic as she was ushered along with the other prisoners to the habitation area. Then they heard a distant explosion, and everyone bolted up the tunnel to the transport carts.

 ********

 The Doctor had decided to take dinner to his quarters, in too foul a mood for company. What was possibly taking so long for their case to be reviewed and decided upon? Was correcting a miscarriage of justice not important enough to be at the top of the to-do list?

 He had done some research on the Aktreus mine, and the cleaner conditions compared to mines on Earth in Sarah’s time didn’t do much to comfort him. Sarah was still wrongly toiling away down there, not to mention whatever had been hurting her so much that he had felt the physical effects through their bond. Granted, those had stopped, but it had still happened.

 He hated waiting for someone else to sort this all out. “Absolutely typical,” he muttered, stabbing at his food with the fork. “Hours to sentence us, days to even look at new evidence and decide something.”

 The Timelord answered the knock on the door with an irritated, “Come in.”

 The door slid open to reveal Ketan, who had an expression of urgency on her face, and seemed to be dressed for action in a sort of utility jumpsuit, which was emblazoned with the science complex’s name and logo over the chest.

 “Going somewhere?” the Doctor asked, still annoyed.

 “We are. There’s been an emergency at the Aktreus mine.”

 The Doctor needed no more explanation. He slipped on his shoes, shot to his feet, grabbed his grey jacket from the back of the couch, and scooped up the sonic screwdriver from the coffee table.

 “All set?” Ketan asked.

 The Doctor simply nodded, and followed her hurried pace out of the huge laboratory building and to the parking area of the complex. He jumped into the passenger side of the open-top hovercar Ketan guided him to, her own car, he guessed. Across the way, he recognized several civilian engineers get into a larger vehicle, which had the Nakda Technological Labs logo on the side.

 “You’re to respond to mine emergencies?” the Doctor inquired as Ketan got in and started the car.

 “To Aktreus, yes, since it is the closest.” Ketan glanced over to him as she steered out onto the road. “I don’t have to personally be there, and we’re not supposed to bring labourers with us.”

 The Doctor recognized what she was doing for him. “Thank you, and I will help with the emergency if I can.”

 Ketan slightly smiled. Then she informed, “There’s not a clear report of what happened. All we know right now is that there was an explosion that’s taken out some of the tunnels.”

 “This sort of thing happen often?”

 “Not at all. The most we’ve had to do since I’ve been here is responding to equipment repairs and performing equipment upgrades.”

 The Doctor nodded, hoping the emergency wasn’t that serious, and that he would find Sarah there.

 ********

 Ketan and her team parked near the entrance of the affected part of the mine. Some emergency response vehicles were nearby. Evacuated prisoners and guards were sitting and milling around the area.

 “Stay near me,” Ketan quietly instructed the Doctor as they were approached by someone obviously high-up in the chain of command.

 “Engineers from Nakda? Good. The situation…”

 The Doctor half-tuned the conversation out, looking over the large crowd of prisoners for one in particular. It could be that she wasn’t even assigned to this section of Aktreus, and that her not being here meant she had been in an unaffected section. He itched to go walk among them for a closer look, but he did have to stay with Ketan or risk being taken away for not being authorized to be here.  

 He didn’t spot Sarah, and did get a sinking feeling that this was indeed the section she had been assigned to when he recognized the man who had collected her from the jail keeping an eye on the prisoners. He turned away from that direction, not needing to be recognized himself.

 “…several guards and prisoners trapped in one of the tunnels.”

 The Doctor turned his attention back to the conversation. Somehow, he knew that Sarah was one of those poor souls still in the tunnels.

 “We don’t want to use heavy machinery, in case it triggers further collapse. The area isn’t stable. We have people monitoring it, but I don’t want to send them in too close and risk losing them until we have a plan.”

 “Of course,” Ketan agreed.  

 “The trapped people are at the entrance gate to that tunnel, on the other side behind fallen debris.”

 The Doctor almost had to bite his tongue to stop from speaking out and demanding that he be taken down to the collapsed tunnel entrance. Ketan had her own sense of urgency to save those people, and sent four members of her team to stabilize the affected area, while she, another, and the Doctor would be taken to where the more pressing situation was being monitored. At the question of who the Doctor was, Ketan simply answered, “Personal assistant.”

 That seemed to be good enough, and they were taken down into the mine with no further questioning. They were rushed past the habitation area and down into the areas of mining operations proper.

 Once they got within sight of the collapsed tunnel entrance, the Doctor rushed past the people monitoring it. There was certainly some heavy rock debris, along with a large piece of heavy machinery, nearly covering the gate to the tunnel.

 “Doctor! Wait!” Ketan called out.

 The Doctor did pause, but only because he could now feel a rumble beneath his feet. This wasn’t going to be stable land soon. Then he bounded on, shouting out behind him, “We’ve got to do this now! I know what I’m doing!”

 He could make the situation worse by going in to remove debris without a proper plan, but he doubted they had time to make one. He also knew it wasn’t purely that rational thinking spurring him into action. It was almost as though he could sense Sarah, here and so close. All he had to do was clear enough debris.

 The Doctor practically skidded to a stop when he reached the mound of rock and dirt and machinery. “Right, where to start…” He went over the possibilities and risks of destabilizing the area further.

 “That piece there, I think,” Ketan answered beside the Timelord.

 The Doctor glanced down to her, then to the large rock slab she was pointing at. “That should be a good start,” he agreed. “You didn’t have to follow me. This is dangerous.”

 Ketan’s hands joined the Doctor’s on the rock. “I know. You’re crazy to run in like this, but right. I told the others to stay back. Both of us moving things will be bad enough.”

 The Doctor nodded, and felt another rumble. “Ready? And… lift!”

 “I think there’s someone out there!” came a muffled voice through the debris. “Hello?”

 The Doctor and Ketan gently set the large rock piece down a couple meters away. They prepared to move another piece, and Ketan answered the voice. “We’re unburying the gate! Just stay calm, and we will get you out.”

 They heard a few whoops of relief from the other side of the gate. They also heard and felt the rumbling grow in intensity. The pair didn’t stop, knowing they were racing against time. They were grateful that the bright lights set up in the ceilings hadn’t stopped working, because doing this in the dark would’ve been near-impossible.

 “Right, I think that’s all we have time for. I don’t think we can risk moving much else,” Ketan said when they had half-uncovered the gate. “Can one of you activate the gate from your side?”

 “I did, but it still can’t open,” a guard answered. The Doctor and Ketan saw him press his badge against the reader at the side of the gate a few more times.

“Must still be too much against it on this side…” the Doctor muttered. He clambered up the diminished mound and firmly grasped at a rod in the gate’s large latticework. “We’ll have to force it open,” he announced.

 “Doctor?” called out a voice that the Timelord had been waiting too long to hear again.

 “Sarah!” The Doctor smiled at the hand the curved over his on the rod, and beamed at the face that came into view. Dirty and bruised, yes, but none of that mattered. Not when he was finally seeing and feeling her again.

 “You have no idea-” they started in unison.

 “Everyone, grab whatever part you can, and pull to your right,” Ketan instructed.

 Sarah’s hand moved lower on the same rod as the Doctor’s, and she locked eyes with the man.

 “Ready? And pull!”

 It took a lot of effort to get the gate to budge, it groaning against the motion. Finally, it did, and they managed to force it open just enough for a person to get through before it got stuck.

 “Alright, one at a time, let’s go,” Ketan said. She had to reach through the gap to help the first person up the mound of debris.

 The Doctor kept his hold on the gate, in case it needed his help to not close again.

 “There’s a group of people up ahead. Run for it,” stated Ketan as the first person, a prisoner, made it through. The next person was a guard, who stayed in case they needed his help. He took over the Doctor’s place when Sarah came through a couple people after, and the Doctor rushed over to hold her close.

 The Timelord considered telling Sarah to run for it with the others, but knew she wasn’t going to leave him while he made sure everyone got out.

 The couple was nearly knocked off their feet by the next rumble, and they somehow managed to grab even more tightly to each other. The Doctor nuzzled his nose against the top of Sarah’s head before they let go.

 “Come on, no time to dawdle,” the Doctor said. He joined Ketan in helping people through the gap. The third guard joined the first in making sure the gate wouldn’t close.

 Sarah winced as another deep rumble threatened to knock her over.

 “That’s the last one,” one of the guards holding the gate finally stated a couple minutes later as the prisoner clambered through.

 “Then run!” the Doctor shouted.

 No one needed to be told twice, and were off like a shot before the Doctor and Sarah.

 There was another deep rumble, and the Doctor could feel this one was much too close. Part of the ceiling came down, and the Doctor had to yank Sarah back to avoid her being struck by the heavy beam. Ketan and a guard stopped to look back.

 Before Ketan could call out, the rest of that part of the ceiling came down between them. “Keep running!” the Doctor shouted through the falling debris.

 An instant later, there was an explosion , and the ground opened beneath the Doctor and Sarah. All the Doctor could do was pull Sarah tightly to him as best he could to protect her from the imminent landing. They fell, with nothing to stop them.

 A moment later, they hit the ground, hard on their sides. The Timelord’s head struck something hard, and his hands around Sarah went slack as darkness filled both their visions.


	10. Chapter 10

 Pained high-pitched whimpers met the Doctor's ears, and were the first thing he was aware of. The second was the feeling of the woman he loved in his loose arms, her head tucked under his chin. Relief flooded through him at that. The third was that the part of his body touching the ground was wet, meaning they had landed in a very shallow pool of water.

 “Sarah?” he asked, voice groggy. His head hurt where it had struck the ground, but it wasn’t important right now. Sarah sounded in pain. He would deal with his own hurts later.

 “Doctor?” Sarah’s voice was wavering, and ended in a wince. “Is it bad?”

 “Is what bad?” The Timelord raised his head, placing a little kiss to the top of Sarah’s head before looking down their bodies.  Then he saw it. In the ambient light coming from above, glinted a long piece of metal, sticking out of her back, a few inches left of her spine. Sarah moved her hand to reach back to feel at it, and the Doctor quickly grabbed it and settled it between their chests. “Let me look.”

 “Hurts…” Sarah squeezed her eyes shut. “Feels deep.”

 “Must’ve been caused by the explosion,” the Doctor muttered. He couldn’t get a good look at it from this angle, and at Sarah’s shiver, decided they needed to get out of the cold water first. “We’re going to move, alright?”

 Sarah weakly nodded. The Doctor gingerly shifted until he was on his knees, and wrapped his arms around her from that angle. The dry rocky land was only a meter or so away. At the first pull of Sarah along her side, he grimaced as pain flared in his shoulder area. He shook his head and decided it was still in well enough working order, and continued pulling Sarah from the water. She cried out, and gritted her teeth to hold it in.

 “Almost there,” the Doctor consoled. He took a few more kneeling shifts back, and gently lowered the woman’s top half to the ground. “Alright…” he breathed. He took off his partially-wet grey jacket, and folded it under Sarah’s head as a pillow.

 “Just our luck,” she said through clenched teeth.

 “Hm?” The Doctor moved to hover over the piece of metal embedded in Sarah’s flesh. Blood leaked out around it, staining her blue shirt and jacket dark red.

 “We’re finally reunited, and then get caught in a mine collapse, and I-“ She buried her face into the grey jacket with a whimper. “Get stabbed on the way down.”

 The Doctor soothingly petted Sarah’s hair. “Try to relax.”

 Sarah groaned, and let out a long breath in an attempt to do just that.

 It didn’t take the Doctor long to conclude, based on examination, “Clean entry, and I think it missed vital organs.”

 “Doesn’t stop it from hurting.” Sarah’s hand clenched. “Take it out?”

 “In a moment. I’ll need a… would you mind if I used your shirt and trousers for a bandage?”

 “I’m… hardly in a position to refuse.”

The Doctor dug in the pocket of his jacket to find his pocketknife. “Where’s Harry when you need him?” he joked as he started cutting up the leg of Sarah’s dry trouser leg.

 “I thought you… you said he was only qualified to work on sailors,” Sarah joked back. She held in a little laugh at the pain it brought to her chest and back. She shivered again from the feel of her wet hair against her face and neck. She closed her eyes, and simply listened to the sound of her clothes being cut and the Doctor’s breathing and movements.

 “That’s enough,” the Doctor said a minute later. “Not the most ideal conditions, but we’ll make do.”

 Sarah made a tiny noise of agreement, wanting the damn thing out already. She opened her eyes at the Doctor snaking his hand under her neck, and that hand filled her view.

 “You’ll want to bite down on something. I only need one hand for this.”

 “Right. Okay…” Sarah latched her teeth around the man’s first knuckle. Her entire body tensed in anticipation.

 “Three, two, one!”

 Sarah bit down as hard as she could, her long wail muffled. The tears that had been threatening to fall the entire time she’d been awake now freely ran down her face.

 What had probably only been a few seconds seemed to last far longer, and it took a long moment after she felt cloth pressed to the wound for her mouth to finally slowly release its hold on the Doctor’s hand.

 “You did very well, Sarah,” the Timelord soothed, moving that hand from her face to briefly go over her hair.

 Sarah’s cries turned into sobs, which she soon tried to clamp down on at the painful flare of pressure in part of her chest.

 The Doctor wrapped the wound as best he could, which would hopefully be tight enough to keep good pressure on it. Then he sat cross-legged and tenderly pulled the woman into his lap, resting her head on his knee. With the worst of the damage taken care of, they could simply be together now.

 Sarah reached a hand up to the Doctor’s face, and he lowered it down to kiss her lips. They breathed the other’s name in unison as they parted, relieved that despite the disastrous turn of events, they had still found each other.

 He wiped away her tears with his thumb, and his attention was drawn to the purple bruising around one of her eyes and on her jaw.

 “You’re bleeding,” Sarah pointed out the small but deep cut near the Doctor’s ear.

 “I must’ve hit a rock when we landed,” the Doctor replied dismissively. He gingerly laid his hand on Sarah’s ribcage, and pulled back at the gasp from her. Without a word, the Doctor carefully pushed up Sarah’s shirt to see above the makeshift bandage around her stomach. His eyes widened at the collection of bruises marring her torso.

 “These aren’t from the tunnel collapse, or the fall,” he stated.

 Sarah bit her lip and shook her head. “It’s not important now,” she reminded at the way his eyes seemed to darken at the confirmation.

 The Doctor didn’t say anything, and very gently felt along her ribcage until she flinched in pain again. He examined that area, which was on the side she had landed on, more thoroughly, and determined, “Two ribs, maybe three, definitely fractured, possibly broken.”

 “Great,” Sarah groaned. “Keeps getting better, doesn’t it?”

 “Don’t lose hope, Sarah. We can both still move, and I’m certain there’s some way out.”

 “And if not?”

 “If we’re stuck in this spot, people up there know where we fell. But let’s not reach that conclusion before exploring around.”

 “Sorry.”

 “Oh, Sarah…” The Doctor bent over to press his forehead to hers. He held her as tightly as he dared, and slightly rocked his body.

 He allowed them a few minutes of relative peace, then straightened and glanced around. “You haven’t happened to have been down this far, have you?”

 “No.”

 “Ah, well, even if you had, with the potential ways things have collapsed, knowing these lower levels might not be too helpful anyway.” He kissed her softly again, before setting her back down on the ground. He replaced his jacket under her head and told her, “Just rest there. I’ll take a look around.”

 “Okay.”

 The Doctor took Sarah’s hand, his fingers lingering over the metal prisoner bracelet that matched his own. He kissed her knuckles and caressed her cheek before standing.

 He took a few steps, and stretched his injured shoulder, which seemed to alleviate a little of the pain. It certainly hurt, but it didn’t feel like a fracture like he had originally thought. He looked down to a little pain in one thigh and knee. They also took a bad hit from the landing, but he could still walk on that leg fine.

 He shook his head in an attempt to clear the headache, and grimaced at the spiking pain that brought. Then he looked to one of the solid rock walls, an idea forming. “Right,” he said loudly enough for Sarah to hear. “Let’s see what we can do.”


	11. Chapter 11

 “I would say this is climbable,” the Doctor said after a few minutes of investigating the walls. He had already gone a bit further down the tunnel, and didn’t see a viable escape that way. “Large enough hand and foot holds, sturdy… Yes, this should do to get us part of the way back up.”

 Sarah raised her head from the makeshift pillow. “Climb it?” Her hand protectively curled over her injured ribs at the thought. “I don’t know if I can go straight up a wall like that in the best of health.”

 The Doctor turned to Sarah. “I wasn’t suggesting that. I can carry you on my back while I climb.”

 “That sounds… slightly better.” Sarah gingerly sat up.

 “Let’s see…” the Timelord muttered as his attention went back to the wall, pacing the length to find the best spot to start.

 Sarah glanced around, shivering from her wet clothes. She then hugged the jacket to her as she watched the Doctor.

 “We’ll certainly be able to go up at least one level, perhaps two.” The man went back and kneeled in front of Sarah. “Are you ready? No time like now.”

 “I suppose so,” Sarah nodded. “I don’t fancy being down here any longer than necessary.”

 “That’s the spirit.” The Doctor took his jacket and held it up, thinking of the best way to do this. “Put this on.”

 “Keep me warm?” Sarah asked, slowly moving her arms so the Doctor could help her into his jacket.

 “In addition to securing you to me.”

 “Ah, got it.” Sarah didn’t bother to bunch the too-long sleeves around her wrists. The Doctor helped her up to her feet, then he crouched down to let her settle onto his back.

 Once she had her arms around his neck and legs around his middle, the Doctor tied the loose ends of the sleeves together. Then he straightened up. At the wince from Sarah, he asked, “Are you alright?”

 “Yeah, just… hurt a bit.”

 “Nothing I can do about that, I’m afraid.”

 “I’m comfortable enough.” Sarah shut her eyes and buried her face in the Doctor’s neck. She would feel better not watching him climb up a rock face with her on his back. She didn’t need to add to her worry about falling off by actually seeing the small hand and foot holds and him reaching up and all that. She trusted in his abilities of course, but wasn’t in the right state of mind to experience the harrowing climb more than she needed to. She was content enough with focusing on her breathing and trying to ignore the various aches and pains in her body.

 The Doctor laid his hand on the wall, and asked, “Ready?”

 “As I’ll ever be. Just don’t expect much conversation,” Sarah tried to say lightly, but her breath hitched halfway through.

 The Doctor patted Sarah’s head before he took firm grasp of a hand-hold. “I’ll try not to make sharp movements,” he assured.

 Sarah smiled a little at his attentiveness to her condition. She steeled herself as she felt his leg lift to find purchase on the wall.

 It was slow going, the Doctor not wanting to rush and make a mistake. He certainly was not going to risk Sarah taking another bad fall. Her breathing was tense in his ear, and he could feel her heartbeat faintly against his back. He didn’t need to say words of encouragement to her, knowing she was holding it together through her anxiety and pains.

 The Doctor’s feet and hands nearly slipped off a few times, but he caught himself quickly enough. He announced as he poked his head over the top, “Two levels higher up than we were.”

 “Pity about the lack of express lift,” Sarah joked as she raised her head.

 The Doctor hummed in agreement, and pulled them up and over. He sat, hunched over, and turned his head to kiss Sarah’s cheek. “How are you holding up?”

 “As well as can be expected. Breathing is starting to hurt, but it’s not bad.”

 The Doctor untied the sleeves around his neck so that he could turn to face Sarah. “Let me check.”

 “You don’t have to. I’m fine, honestly. Like you said, not much you can do about it.”

 The Doctor scooted around to Sarah’s back, and lifted his jacket up enough to inspect the bandaged wound. Sarah let him do that without protest. The last thing they needed was for her to bleed out without them noticing.

 She hissed when his fingers accidently dug into a bruise too hard. He apologized, and stood to stretch, apparently satisfied with the wrapping of the stab wound. Sarah reached up for his hand, saying, “I can walk. No sense in making you carry me this whole time.”

 The Doctor gave her a little smile, and gingerly pulled her up to her feet. Once again, her hand went to her injured ribs as a precautionary measure. To prevent the Doctor from asking about her condition again, she inquired, “Do you think the tunnel system is stabilized now? No more floor collapsing or cave-ins to worry about?”

 “I hope so. I can’t say for certain. It is a good sign that we didn’t hear any rumblings while we were climbing.”

 “I’ll take that as a good sign, definitely.”

 The Doctor looked around, then chose a direction based on where the above exit to the surface was. “This way, unless you know of another way out?”

 Sarah shrugged, and grimaced at the pull of her muscles. “I wasn’t ever down this far.”

 “This way it is, then,” the Doctor nodded. Their hands found the other’s, and Sarah pressed into his side to help support her abused body as they walked.

 “I felt it,” the Doctor said quietly a minute later.

 Sarah tensed and asked, “Another rumble?”

 “No, no, not that. Ground’s still firm enough.” The Timelord took a breath. “You being hurt.”

 “Oh…” Sarah wondered how that was possible.

 “I can’t be certain what happened the first time I felt it, but the second and third, I think I can made an educated guess.”

 “Maybe, but this isn’t the time to go into any of that.” Sarah swallowed heavily, and shook her head of the surfacing memories. “It’s done with, and we’ve got other problems to worry about right now.” She held the jacket around her closed with her free hand to guard from the chill of the air.

 The Doctor had been about to say that the harm that had been done to her probably hadn’t done her any favors in the fall. At the least, the bruising on her chest indicated that her ribcage had already been compromised before two ribs had broken in the unforgiving landing. But he understood that she didn’t need to hear it from him. She already knew. “If you wish. I only ask that you not hide any major injuries or pains from me.”

 “As long as you can do the same for me,” Sarah agreed. A moment later, she hesitantly inquired, “Have you been… hurt by anyone?”

 “No. I was sent to a better place than this.”

 “Good.” Sarah said with a tone that meant the end of the conversation.  

 They came to a partially collapsed section of the tunnel, and Sarah groaned at the prospect of having to crawl through an opening.

 The Doctor went through first, and turned to help her through. Sarah had felt a sort of pinch in her chest at the action of maneuvering through the space, and when she stood, doubled over to try to breathe through that new pain. A thankfully brief wave of nausea went through her.

 The Timelord kneeled in front of her, asking the question with his concerned expression. Sarah pointed to the area of broken ribs and said, “I think… I think something moved.”

 “A lot?”

 Sarah shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She carefully straightened upright. “I can keep going.”

 The Doctor nodded and got back up to his feet, putting his arm over her shoulders and holding her close to him as they continued on. He didn’t say anything about her gait being less stable than before.


	12. Chapter 12

 Sarah stumbled again, wincing as she straightened. She shivered, the too-big grey jacket and the arm around her shoulders not enough to keep all the chill away. She blinked a few times to will away the small sensation of nausea bubbling in her throat.

 Sarah didn’t know how long they had been trapped down here, or how long since they had awakened in that shallow pool. She could’ve asked the Doctor, but dreaded that the answer would be worse than she had thought. She knew that in situations like this, the longer you were not found, the less likely chance of being found alive.

 She shook her head to dispel those negative thoughts. Those wouldn’t do to let fester right now. Not when she and the Timelord were both still moving, still making their way back up to the surface. They would make it, and they would get medical attention and… then what? Would they be separated again? Him back to that tech lab that he had mentioned a little while ago, and her back to this very mine complex they were trying to escape? She didn’t think she could handle that happening again.

 Sarah’s arm around the Doctor’s back tightened at that thought. The time spent here, away from him, with everything that had happened to her so far had been terrible enough. To have to go through it again…

 “Duck your head,” the Doctor warned, pulling Sarah from her thoughts. He had to crouch down more than her to maneuver under the partially-collapsed beam.

 They were grateful that most of the mine’s lighting system was still operational. Trying to do all this in the dark would’ve ended with more bruises and aimless wandering.

 “Can we rest for a bit?” Sarah asked minutes after they had passed under the beam.

 “I don’t see why not,” the Doctor agreed. He led her over to the side of the tunnel, and helped her down to sit with her back against the wall. He kneeled in front of her. “Anything in particular bothering you?”

 “Not really. I’m just… tired.” Sarah rubbed the side of her neck. “Wish we had some food.”

 “Sorry, I can’t do anything about that, either.”

 Sarah half-smiled at the man reassuringly. “I suppose that’s just another motivator to get out of here as soon as we can.” Her eyes closed and she leaned her head back. “I could murder a plate of fish and chips right now. The whole fish.”

 “I think that’s doable when we get back to the Tardis,” the Doctor agreed as he moved to sit next to her.

 Sarah hummed her appreciation. “Along with a nice medium ale.” Her head leaned to rest against the man’s shoulder. “And then a bread pudding after.”

 “I can’t say no to that, either,” the Doctor chuckled.

 Sarah yawned and settled more against the Timelord. They could spare a little time for sleep, right?

 It was as though the Doctor had read her mind, and said, “I’ll let you sleep for a little while. I’d rather not have you pass out later.”

 “Sounds good,” Sarah replied, voice already slurring. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but the grey jacket around her and the Doctor’s arm as a pillow was enough to let her hurting and exhausted body drift into sleep.

 ********

 Sarah awakened to the soft tone of the Doctor’s voice. “Wake up,” he said. “We can’t sleep the whole day away… or is it night now?”

 Sarah rubbed at her eyes. “Either way, I’ll be happy to see the sky.” She accepted his help in getting up to her feet. “How long was I asleep?”

 “A couple of hours.”

 “Okay. That should be enough,” she replied with a small yawn. All she wanted right now was to curl up in their bed on the Tardis, on the soft mattress and huddled under the blankets. In her still-sleepy mood, she pondered if that should happen before or after the fish and chips.

 They eventually came to a service lift some time later, which was half-crushed by rock and debris. Sarah knew that if it had been operational, it would’ve taken them to the habitation and operations level of the mine, nearest the surface. “Of course,” she sighed.

 “Don’t give up on it yet,” the Doctor said, letting go of the woman’s hand to take a closer look. “Just because it can’t go up doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

 “It is if we’re trying to go up. Which we are,” Sarah retorted.

 The Doctor ignored the remark, and climbed up onto the roof of the lift.

 Sarah called out, “Don’t hurt yourself,” before gingerly lowering herself to the ground. The pressure in her chest felt like it was steadily getting tighter. She didn’t know if the broken ribs were actually getting worse, or if it was a figment of her imagination from the stress of trying to find a way out. Breathing wasn’t as easy, but she tried her best to ignore that. Panicking about that and the flaring pain of the stab wound certainly wasn’t going to help their cause.

 The Doctor came back out of the lift shaft, an encouraging smile on his face. “It can’t take us all the way up, but we can climb up another level.”

 “Well, that’s something,” Sarah replied, taking the man’s hand to get to her feet.

 It was a struggle for Sarah to clamber up onto the lift roof without aggravating her injuries too much. She tried not to breathe to prevent further shifting of her broken ribs.

 Once they were both standing on the debris-unsteady roof, the Doctor prompted, “The next level isn’t that high up. On my back.”

 Sarah once again found herself on the Timelord’s sturdy back with her arms and legs around him. She wasn’t tied this time, since it wasn’t as precarious as the previous cliff ascent. She still closed her eyes, all the same.

 Less than a minute later, the Doctor instructed, “We’re nearly at the top. We can’t both fit through the gap. I need you to get through it on your own. Can you do that?”

 Sarah’s body seemed to protest at the very idea, but she answered, “Yes, I can do it.”

 “Good girl,” the Doctor praised. He pressed himself against the wall as much as he could.

 Sarah looked up, and saw that she could reach the lip of the level above without any problem. The problem came with the gap between that ground and what looked like a thick sheet of metal. It would be the worst maneuvering so far, and she held back a grimace at it, instead setting her jaw in determination.

 Sarah pushed herself up using the Doctor’s shoulder, and got her other hand up and flat on the ground above. After that, it took some careful shifting until Sarah’s weight was fully supported on the man’s shoulders. Her chest was already in pain from that effort, but she couldn’t stop here. She held her breath again, and swung one leg up and over. The muscles and skin of her back around the stab wound pulled from the effort, and she felt a trickling of warm blood.

 The Doctor helped by pushing up Sarah’s other leg with his hand, and she was able to have enough leverage to slither sideways through the gap on her front. She couldn’t stop the little cry escaping her mouth as that put direct pressure onto her ribcage, and she felt one of the broken ribs shift. As soon as she could, she rolled onto her back, taking short breaths to work through the pain. An intense wave of queasiness rolled in her stomach.

 The Doctor appeared soon after, and he immediately hovered over her, both hands at the sides of her head. “Sarah?”

 Sarah’s vision swam, and she blinked to steady it. “You should check the bandages. They might’ve come undone.”

 The Doctor gently rolled Sarah onto her side to do that. Sarah closed her eyes, and focused on breathing evenly. The nausea didn’t go away as quickly as before, but it had dissipated enough when the Timelord finished tightening the bandages.

 “How are you feeling?” the Doctor asked.

 “Woozy. I think it would be a bad idea to do something like that again too soon.”

 “I agree. Still, one level closer,” the Doctor encouraged.

 “Yeah. One closer.”  

 They took a minute to catch their breaths. Then the Doctor said, “On my back again.”

 “Are we climbing again?”

 “No, but there’s no point in making you walk if you don’t need to.”

 “Doctor, I’m fine. I can-“

 “This isn’t a negotiation, Sarah. I can see the effects this is all having on you. I’ll be carrying you one way or another.”

 Sarah blew out a breath. “I suppose there’s no point in potentially making it worse.”

 “That’s right. Come on.”

 With Sarah once again on the Timelord’s back, the sleeves of the jacket now tied around him, they set off, hoping the rest of the way would be easier.


	13. Chapter 13

 “This is starting to look familiar,” Sarah weakly remarked, as they emerged into a tunnel with tools left on the ground.

 “Certainly a more active area than the ones we’ve been in,” the Doctor added.

 They stopped in the small guard station nearby. The Timelord set Sarah down on the table, and untied the sleeves from around his neck. Sarah immediately wrapped her arms around herself as he crossed the room to root through a supply cabinet.

 As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she could feel her condition getting worse. It had been a good idea to let the Doctor carry her after climbing up from that lift shaft. Still, Sarah was determined to tough this out as long as she could, despite her body wanting nothing more than a long blissful sleep. She wasn’t going to be a complete burden while they were down here.

 “Ah, there we go,” the Doctor announced, turning back to Sarah with some food bars and a water bottle in hand. “Not fish and chips and bread pudding, but-“

 “I’ll take it,” Sarah reached out for one and eagerly opened the package. She bit into it, not caring about the bland taste. Then she took a long sip of water, relishing the way it wet her parched throat. “You eat a couple, too,” she reminded the Doctor.

 The Doctor smiled slightly and opened a food bar. Then he glanced around with it sticking half out of his mouth. “Let’s see if there’s anything else of use in here,” he said around it.

 “There should be a communications unit,” Sarah informed, finishing one food bar and opening another. “Don’t know if it’s only for internal use, but worth a try.”

 “Someone might be at another one further towards the entrance,” the Doctor nodded. He moved a computer tablet aside, and found said comm unit.

 Sarah ate a third food bar and drank half of the water while the Doctor turned on and tried to initiate contact with someone through the comm unit.

 At the lack of any answer, the Timelord sighed. “I think you were right about it being for internal use only. I’d say we’re still on our own down here. Pity.”

 “You don’t think any search efforts have abandoned us, do you?”

 “I would hope not, based on the behavior of the guards at the gate with you and the other prisoners. They seemed intent on making certain you all got out.” The Doctor drank most of the rest of the water, and handed it back to Sarah to let her have what was left.

 “We’re just two prisoners,” Sarah reminded, unable to keep the negative thoughts about how she had been treated and their situation away.

 “There’s nothing ‘just’ about us, Sarah,” the Doctor encouraged. “Besides, they might not have sent search teams in, for their own safety from the mine destabilization. I’m sure once they think it’s safe enough…”

 Sarah simply hummed and closed her eyes to try to relax. It took a moment, but now that she had stopped moving, she definitely knew the increased tightness of her breathing was not her imagination. All the other pains certainly weren’t helping, either.

 Sarah instinctively coughed to try to clear away some of the tightness in her chest, and it felt strange as well as painful.

 At her wince, the Doctor instantly stood in front of her, crouching down a little, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Don’t cough too hard,” he reminded.

 “Trying not to. Already hurts enough.” Sarah coughed a few more times. Then her mouth started to taste of iron as the next couple of coughs sounded weirdly wet. She blinked and shook her head to recover from the pain the coughing fit had caused. Her eyes widened when her gaze lifted to the Doctor’s exposed neck.

 “Doctor?” Sarah said in a shaky voice.

 The Doctor looked down, to see the woman staring straight ahead. “Sarah?” he prompted. At her lack of verbal answer, he lightly swiped his fingers across his neck, feeling a wetness. He looked at his fingers, seeing them stained with fresh crimson blood. He knew it wasn’t his.

 Sarah’s eyes hadn’t moved, staring at the blood still spattered on his skin. At her blood. The iron taste in her mouth intensified, leaving no doubt of the source of that blood. Her body started to tremble and her breathing quickened.

 The Doctor quickly wiped his fingers on his shirt before that hand went around the back of Sarah’s head. “Do not panic, Sarah,” he warned. His other hand went to caress the side of her neck.

 Sarah couldn’t stop it. Her quickened breathing led to another short coughing fit, which resulted in blood on her hand. “Coughing blood-“

 “Is nothing to panic over.”

 “-Is a bad thing. I know it is. Internal damage… I can… I can feel it… hurts so much…”

 The Doctor made shushing sounds as he moved in to kiss the woman’s forehead. “It’s a warning. Only a warning,” he assured.

 “S-some warning.” Sarah couldn’t calm her panicked breaths. “It’s like… it’s pressing in… hard to breathe… hurts…” She sobbed, and tears pricked at her eyes.

 “Sarah, listen to me,” the Doctor softly but urgently said as he crouched to be eye-level with her. “You cannot panic. That will only make it worse.”

 “I c-can’t!”

 “You can.” The Doctor took one of her hands and pressed the palm to his chest. “Breathe with me,” he prompted.

 Sarah’s eyes squeezed shut, and the tears leaked out as her breathing became more strained.

 “No, no, you can’t cry right now.”

 Now that she had acknowledged it out loud, it was as though a floodgate had been opened. “It hurts so much! I can’t stop it! It h-hurts! Can’t b-breathe…” she cried out between sobs.

 “Yes, you can,” the Timelord encouraged. He moved in until her cheek was next to her hand on his chest. “Breathe with me. In… Out… In… Out…” He held her close so she wouldn’t have a choice but to feel the steady pace of his breathing.

 Sarah’s next several breaths were still ragged and irregular. The Doctor slightly pushed her back until he could look to her eyes again. “Sarah, you need to calm down.”

 Sarah’s entire body trembled. “I-I’m trying, but I…”

 The Doctor knew they needed to get a handle on this now, before it could make her condition any worse. “Sarah, I can help you, but I’ll need to put you into a light trance. Is that alright?” He wasn’t going to force this on her and potentially add to her rising distress.

 Sarah nodded her head. “O-okay.” The taste of blood in her mouth was now full, instead of the iron hint of before. Her hand against the man’s chest fisted into his shirt.

 “Look into my eyes, Sarah.” The Doctor’s hand slowly gently caressed the side of Sarah’s head. “Calm… Nothing will hurt you… I won’t let anything hurt you here…” Once she was sufficiently under his spell, he prompted, “I need you to breathe with me, Sarah.” He again held her against him so she could feel his heartsbeat and rise and fall of his chest. “Feel it?”

 “Yeah…”

 “Good. Now, In… Out… With me…”

 Sarah’s breathing slowed to a more regular rate. Her hand clenching the Timelord’s shirt loosened.

 “Very good,” the Doctor remarked. Still, he could hear the straining tone in every one of Sarah’s breaths, along with a sickly wet note in her chest. When had it gotten so bad? He pushed aside his anxiety. The last thing she needed was to sense him panicking. He rested his chin on the top of her head and closed his eyes. “Sarah, what’s one thing you are certain of in the universe?”

 The Doctor felt Sarah’s brow furrow at the question. Still, she answered after a moment, “How… how much I love you?”

 “That’s part of the answer. What’s the other part?”

 “How… how much you love me?”

 “Exactly.” The Doctor tilted his head down until his nose nuzzled her hair. Softly, he continued, “And what does that mean?”

 “Th-that you’ll… you’ll do what-whatever you can for me.”

 “Yes. I will do everything in my power to save you, to protect you. It also means that I trust you. I trust you to be strong.”

 “I d-don’t feel strong.”

 “You are, Sarah. Don’t you ever doubt that.” The Doctor pushed her back so that he could hold her face between his hands and gaze into her hazel eyes. Green-brown, which didn’t hide at all the pain she was struggling with. “I trust you to be strong, to hold on, until we can get you help. I know you can do that.”

 Sarah simply nodded, then slumped against him again. His arms wrapped around her, and his chin rested on her head, making her feel safe, that he could protect her. Still, she coughed a few more times, though not as hard as before with the sense of calm the Doctor had transferred to her.

 They stayed like that for a few more minutes, until the Doctor stated, “We need to get moving again.”

 “Okay,” Sarah agreed, knowing they couldn’t waste any more time. Not with her broken ribs pressing in and causing more internal damage. She clung onto his back, and he tied the sleeves.

 “I will not let you down, Sarah,” the Doctor assured.

 “I know…” Sarah’s voice was strained and weak. “You never do…”

 ********

 They were in familiar territory, the Doctor recognizing it despite his rush to find the trapped Sarah, when Sarah’s legs around his waist suddenly dropped limply to his sides and her head went slack against his shoulder. “Sarah?”

 At the lack of answer, the Doctor turned his head. “Sarah?” His voice was more urgent. She still didn’t answer, though her breathing sounded even more strained and frothy. He felt a wetness on his neck, and didn’t have to touch it to know what it was.

 The Doctor kneeled down, untied the sleeves, and quickly turned to gently lay her on the ground.  “Sarah!” he urged. It did no good. She was unconscious. He felt the pulse in her neck and lowered his ear to her mouth to feel her breaths. Both signs of life were present, but not as strong as he wanted.

 “Come on, Sarah. We’re close. We’re nearly there.” The Doctor prompted. He couldn’t let her stay like this, knowing it was dangerous in her condition. “Sarah, wake up!” He tapped her face. Then he rubbed her hand between both of his. “You can’t sleep, not yet!”

 The Timelord spent another moment before finally Sarah very weakly said, “…wake… what…”

 “Yes, good girl, Sarah. We’re almost there. You can’t sleep yet.”

 “Why… why not?” Her eyes fluttered open for a second, then closed again.

 The Doctor lifted her in his arms, one arm under her knees and the other cradling her torso and head to his chest, and stood. “Soon, I promise. Just not yet.”

 “So… so tired… hurts…”

 “I know.” The Doctor’s pace quickened, spurred on by the knowledge that the exit of the mine wasn’t far. He grimaced at Sarah’s coughing, feeling more warm spatters on his exposed neck. She began to shiver violently in his arms.

 “D-don’t feel… good…”

 “You will soon, I promise.” The Doctor wanted to keep her talking, but didn’t want her to waste her remaining strength on that. “Stay awake for me. I know you can. Please, stay awake.”

 “Don’t want…” Sarah’s voice trailed into a long pained groan.

 The Doctor gently shushed her. “Save your strength.” He spared a second to kiss her forehead before hurrying as fast as he could.

 Thankfully, this upper main section of the mine hadn’t had any substantial damage, so not much impeded their way. The Doctor knew they wouldn’t have much time to spare to find another way around any blocked areas. It was as though every second that passed, he could feel Sarah weakening, her body giving in to all the damage it had sustained.

 “Stay with me,” he reminded, met with only a loud and strained inhale.

 He rushed past the habitation area, and through the gate to the operations area. Now he full-out ran. Sarah winced at the rigorous motion, and he apologized without decreasing his speed. He needed to get her to help as quickly as possible. Even though he knew this was causing her more pain, he had to sacrifice her comfort to save her.

 “D-Doctor…”

 The Doctor dismissed the surfacing memory of the fear while carrying her like this on the Nerva space station, after she had been infected by a cybermat. He had saved her in time then, and he would do the same now.

 He sensed her fall unconscious again, but didn’t stop to wake her.

 The Doctor ran past the operations room window near the entrance of the mine complex, disregarding the surprised shouted questions from the people within. He burst outside into the fresh air and dusk sky. “We’re out,” he said to the unconscious Sarah, finally stopping to glance around for medical help.

 “Doctor? Doctor!” Ketan rushed over from conversing with a few engineers and rescue people. “You’re alive!” She was no longer in her utility suit. Her left forearm was encased in a thick white wrapping, proof that she hadn’t made it out of the collapse unscathed. “Sarah?” she asked of the unconscious woman in the Timelord’s arms.

 “Alive. Are there any medics?” the Doctor asked.

 “I don’t think so, right now. They had to deal with other survivors.” Ketan didn’t hesitate to suggest, “My car. Come on.” She didn’t spare a moment to say anything to the engineers and rescue team as she hurriedly led the Doctor to her car.

 The Doctor climbed into the open-top backseat, cradling Sarah firmly against him.  Barely a few seconds later, the car lifted from the ground and sped away from the Aktreus Mine.

 “Keep holding on, Sarah,” he whispered into the woman’s hair, barely heard over her struggled breathing.


	14. Chapter 14

 The Doctor smoothed back Sarah’s hair as he settled her in his lap. He was sitting half-cross-legged with her head pillowed on his knee. Her breathing sounded so wrong, and worse than before. And even in unconsciousness, little cries of pain accompanied each breath.

 Wind blew through the Timelord’s hair as he cradled the woman he loved. “Keep breathing, Sarah,” he encouraged. “I know it hurts, but keep breathing…” His fingers kept stroking her face and petting her hair soothingly. “You’ll get help soon.”

 The Doctor lifted his head, tempted to ask Ketan how long until they would arrive at the nearest hospital, but decided not to rush her, knowing she was doing what she could to get there quickly. He returned his full attention to Sarah. The visible bruises on her skin looked worse now that they were out in the twilight sun. He feared for the rest of the damage he couldn’t see. “Soon, I promise. Just keep holding on. It’ll all be alright.”

 The Timelord tucked his jacket around her tighter, and did the small amount he could to add to her comfort. With nothing else to do, he bowed his head until their foreheads touched.

 From this position, he could now feel each of her weak struggled breaths against his face. There was nothing else he could do, except be here for her, even if she was unaware of his presence. “I love you,” he said to her, both verbally and mentally. He hoped she heard him in both ways, or at least one. Perhaps it was his intense desire to have some conscious sign from her, but he thought he felt a flutter of her fingers against his chest.

 He raised his head, and noticed the steady trickle of blood from her partly-open mouth. It continued down her chin to her neck, where it then rolled sideways and down to stain the leg of his trousers.

 Sarah was losing precious blood, and this was not from the stab wound in her back. All of the blood she had coughed earlier and now this thick trail was from the internal damage. There was nothing the Doctor could do to stop it, no bandages he could apply, no action he could do to decrease the pain. He felt so helpless.

 “Can’t you go any faster?” the Doctor snapped at the woman driving.

 “I’m going as fast as I dare,” Ketan replied, seemingly unbothered in any way by the man’s tone. She did spare a look back at them.

 The Doctor shook his head in frustration. They were now in the city. Had that long already passed since they had left the mine? His attention instantly went back to Sarah at the large wet cough. The trickle from her mouth was now more like a river, and he could see that her mouth had welled with blood.

 “No, no, it’s alright,” the Doctor soothed, though his voice was less confident than before. He moved her up into a sitting position, and tilted her head forward to let the blood drain from her mouth before she could choke on it. He shivered and closed his eyes at the feel of it soaking through the sleeve of his shirt. “That’s it, let it out.”

 He held her like that, even after what was in her mouth had drained sufficiently. He didn’t want to risk that happening again. The Timelord’s hands softly rubbed at Sarah’s back, being careful not to touch the bandaged wound, and he pressed his face into her hair.

 “Keep holding on, Sarah. Keep holding on…” the Doctor said it for himself as much as for her.

 Minutes later, Ketan announced, “We’re there!” as she steered towards the hospital emergency entrance.

 The Doctor took a second to kiss Sarah’s forehead before he resettled her in his arms, ready to jump out and rush into the hospital. Those few seconds of Ketan swerving the car to stop in front of the emergency entrance felt too long. The Doctor effortlessly jumped out, with Ketan on his heels.

 Ketan rushed past the Doctor to explain to the person at the front desk, “Two survivors from the Aktreus Mine collapse.”

 The Doctor was relieved that the exposed prisoner bracelet on his wrist didn’t lead to any delay in getting them help. With no questioning, doctors rushed towards them, and the Timelord gently placed Sarah on the gurney.

 “They both need treatment,” Ketan continued. “The woman more than the man.”

 The Doctor kept at Sarah’s side as they rushed towards getting Sarah treatment.

 They were separated only a short couple of minutes later. Sarah’s injuries required much more intensive procedures than the Doctor’s. The Doctor didn’t protest, as much as he wanted to stay with Sarah to make certain she got treated fully and to the best of their ability. He couldn’t afford to make a scene or seem unreasonable, with his prisoner status. To do so could have jeopardized Sarah.

 Which of course meant more waiting once the Doctor was seen to and assigned to a long-term recovery room. He didn’t think his injuries needed it, since he hadn’t even been given a hospital gown to change into. Still, he certainly wasn’t going to complain. He just hoped that Sarah would also be assigned to this room. There was space for another bed, so hopefully that was what that would mean.

 The Timelord’s thoughts briefly went to wondering if Ketan could even do anything else related to Sarah, since Sarah wasn’t legally her responsibility. But, maybe with their prisoner status potentially in question…

 The Doctor was immediately alert and sat up when the door opened a long time later. Two nurses wheeled in Sarah, and positioned her bed closer to the wall opposite the door. As they check over the monitoring equipment attached to her, the Doctor asked, “How is she?”

 “We are confident she will recover,” one nurse replied with an encouraging smile.

 The Doctor nodded his acknowledgment. He waited until they were gone, noticing the guard stationed outside the door as they left, before grabbing the chair in the corner of the room and sitting down at Sarah’s bedside. She was dressed in a blue hospital gown, most of her body covered by the blankets. The top part of a thick white wrapping around her chest peeked out from under the gown, which looked similar to the one on Ketan's arm. Her breaths, while still weak, no longer had the wet or strained quality to them. 

 “I told you that you were strong,” the Doctor quietly said, taking Sarah’s hand. “You always are.” He kissed her cheek.

 With Sarah now in a stable condition, the Doctor’s thoughts went to their situation. Despite this, they were still prisoners, and could be separated again.

 He couldn’t let that happen again. Not with the abuse Sarah had suffered the first time.


	15. Chapter 15

 Some hours later, the Doctor glanced up at the door when it opened. Ketan hesitated before quietly coming in. She set the bag in her hand on the empty bed. She had a smaller one on her back. The Timelord dropped his head again to continue watching over the unconscious Sarah.

 “How… how are you and Sarah?” Ketan asked in a hushed tone.

 The Doctor snorted at the question. He raised his arm, the one with the more blood-stained sleeve. Very calmly, he stated, “I am wearing my Sarah’s blood. I’m sitting at her side while she recovers from grievous injury. While the people who did this to her…” His voice turned to a hissing whisper. “Are out there, not caring what they’ve done!” He had worked through most of his anger earlier, but some still remained, and probably would until they were long gone from Kartos. How they could hurt Sarah so... it sickened him. 

 “Doctor-“

 “Look at her chart,” the Timelord prompted, gesturing with his head to the foot of Sarah’s bed, where a tablet was clipped.

 “Have you-“

 “Of course I have,” the Doctor snapped. “I know she was hurt, I felt some of it. But that… there is no reason for her to have been abused like that.”

 Ketan unclipped the tablet and turned on the screen.

 The Doctor gave the woman a moment to read through the list of Sarah’s afflictions and injuries before stating, “Most of that is not from the cave-in and fall.”

 Ketan nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry.”

 The Doctor waved his hand dismissively. “No apologies needed from you.” His fingers absentmindedly traced over the edge of Sarah’s prisoner bracelet on her wrist.

 Ketan replaced the tablet, and cleared her throat. “I brought some clothes for you.”

 The Doctor looked up to see Ketan approaching him with the bag. “Thank you.” He said, taking it. The item on the top was his grey jacket, which he guessed she had been able to take from the doctors. He took it out and unfolded it, seeing that it had been cleaned. He opened it and tenderly laid it over Sarah. “This one isn’t her favorite of mine, but she still likes wearing it when I let her.”

 The rest of the clothes were the ones that had been provided to him when he had first arrived at the lab complex. The Doctor was hesitant to leave Sarah’s side, even for only a moment, but decided getting out of his ruined clothes would make him feel better, if only slightly. He took the bag to the private restroom, and changed as quickly as possible.

 “Shouldn’t you be in this bed?” Ketan inquired when the man came out.

 The Doctor took his seat at Sarah’s bedside and looked at Ketan, who was sitting on the edge of the other bed. “It is assigned to me, yes. I decided this spot is better.” He sighed and took Sarah’s hand again. “Speaking of, is this private room for both of us your doing?”

 “Yes. I thought it would be best for you to be kept together. At the very least, to prevent you causing trouble by sneaking into whatever room she’s in without you.”

 “I’d like to see them try to stop me.”

 A minute passed by in quiet. “They’re still reviewing your case,” Ketan informed.

 “Still?”

 “Nothing I can do to hurry them along. In the meantime, you and Sarah are to stay here under guard until they decide one way or the other. She’ll need the time to recover, and you are allowed to be with her.”

 “Good. Thank you.”

 “To make this even better, they’ve transferred her to me until they make their decision. I’m sure her masters will come at some point, but they can’t do anything to her. They can’t take her or hurt her or anything while she’s here.”

 The Doctor smiled at the engineer. “A sanctuary of sorts. That is most definitely great to hear.” Then he tilted his head as she pulled her personal tablet from her backpack. “Your arm. What happened?”

 Ketan raised her wrapped injured forearm, and said, “Oh, well, right after you fell through the level, another piece of the ceiling came down. I think it was a pipe that struck my arm and broke it.”

 “You’re fine?”

 “It wasn’t a bad break. Don’t worry about me, Doctor. I’ll make a full recovery.” It was Ketan’s turn to tilt her head at him. “Have you slept since being admitted?”

 “Sleep is for tortoises,” the Timelord replied, kissing the back of Sarah’s hand.

 Ketan shrugged. She watched the pair for a moment, especially the tender way the Doctor touched Sarah, then stated, “I see why you were so eager to find her.”

 “Sarah is… very precious to me,” the Doctor replied without raising his eyes from Sarah’s face. “And now that I know the full extent of what she suffered through… I won’t let her be separated from me again.”

 “You have my word that I’ll do whatever I can to prevent that.”

 The Doctor did raise his gaze at that promise. “You’ve already done so much for us.”

 “Why would I stop now? You’re both my responsibility now, at least for the time being.”

 The Doctor nodded his gratitude, and turned his attention back to Sarah.

 ********

 A few hours later, the Doctor heard the yawn from Ketan, and said, “You don’t have to stay with us, do you? Surely, you have work to do, and I’m sure your bed is more comfortable than that one or any chair here.”

 “I am not required to stay, no. But, I would prefer to. Make sure nothing happens to either of you. Besides,” Ketan raised her tablet. “I can get work done here.”

 The Doctor did appreciate how seriously she was taking her promise, but she could have someone look after them in her stead. Still, he didn’t see the point in trying to convince her to change her mind. “You can have that bed for your nap, then. I’m comfortable enough here.”

 “Doctor, you’ve been in that chair for hours.”

 “Hm… so I have. I’ll stay in it for more hours. If I need the bed, I’ll let you know.”

 Ketan shook her head in slight amusement. “Fair enough.” She put her tablet away and went to the restroom.

 “Quite the ally I’ve found,” the Doctor whispered to Sarah.

 ********

 They’d had dinner, Ketan having gone to the cafeteria to get them something more substantial than the standard patient fare. Sarah had been regularly checked on throughout the day, and each time her recovery was assured, the weight on the Doctor’s hearts lifted a bit more. Still, nothing was going to have the full effect in relieving his sprit than her finally waking up.

 The Doctor had dozed off, his head on the sheets next to Sarah’s hand, which he still held. He instantly came back to full alertness at the softest of pressure of her fingers tightening against his.

 He raised his head. “Sarah?” he whispered, scooting closer to her face. He held her hand between both of his. “I’m here, Sarah. I would very much like to see you awake, but only if you’re ready.” The answering pressure of two of her fingers weakly curling around his hand made him smile. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

 The Doctor barely noticed Ketan quietly slip out the door to give them privacy.

 Whimpers escaped Sarah’s slightly parted lips, and her body shifted under the jacket and blanket. The Doctor soothed her, “I know you’re in some pain still, but it’s alright.”

 Then, finally, her eyes cracked open, revealing the green-brown. Her eyelids didn’t open further than halfway, but her eyes focused on him. “Hello, my Sarah Jane,” the Doctor greeted softly, his teeth showing in his relieved smile.


	16. Chapter 16

 “Doc… Doctor?” Sarah’s unsteady voice asked.

 “I’m here, that’s right.”

 “Good…” Sarah blinked slowly a few times until her eyelids were able to open fully. Her head moved slightly as she glanced around at her surroundings. “Hospi… hospital?”

 “Yes. It was a close thing, but we made it.”

 Sarah’s eyes closed again, but the pressure of her holding onto the Timelord’s hand meant she hadn’t fallen back to sleep.

 The Doctor noticed Sarah’s shallow breathing, and told her, “Try to breathe more normally. It shouldn’t hurt.”

 Sarah opened her eyes as she considered it. Then, hesitantly, she focused on breathing normally. After several breaths, she smiled slightly and said, “Oh, that feels so much better than before.”

 “That’s certainly a relief, or I would’ve had a word with the staff here on your treatment.”

 “Hm… Several words, I imagine.” Sarah unsteadily raised her hand in the Doctor’s grasp, and sighed at the all-too-familiar sight of the prisoner bracelet on her wrist.

 “Hopefully, that will also be taken care of soon,” the Doctor said.

 “It would be nice to get this infernal thing off.” Sarah looked over the Doctor more closely. “You alright?”

 “Nothing too bad.” At Sarah’s questioning stare, the Doctor assured. “Still some aches, but those will fade easily enough.”

 Sarah nodded, and her other hand absentmindedly stroked the material of the Doctor’s jacket laid over her. “At least we got our own private room.”

 “With a guard outside the door,” the Doctor informed. “We’re in a sort of limbo status right now.”

 Sarah’s brow lifted in question, but said, “As long as that means we can stay here until I’m recovered, I won’t complain right now.”

 “That’s precisely what it means, although you would’ve been kept here for full recovery even if our status wasn’t in question.” The Doctor let out a long breath. “The responsible thing to do is let the nurses know you’ve awakened.”

 “Just a few more minutes?”

 “Alright, but only a few.” The Doctor brought his unoccupied hand up to gently comb through the front of Sarah’s hair.

 Sarah closed her eyes at the tender attention. It finished with a soft kiss to her cheek before the Doctor pressed the call button on the side of her bed.

 

 Ketan came back in soon after Sarah had been examined by a doctor. Sarah swallowed another bite of her fruity jello-like meal as the Doctor introduced the other woman to her.

 “Nice to meet you,” Sarah nodded.

 “I wish the circumstances had been better, but it is good that the Doctor finally found you,” Ketan responded.

 “I’m on the mend,” Sarah assured. “Full recovery.”

 “That is especially good to hear.” Ketan then said, “I’ll be heading home for the night. I’ll be back in the morning to look after you.”

 “Sleep well,” the Doctor replied.

 “Have a good night,” Sarah added.

 Ketan bowed her head as she headed out.

 The Doctor waited until Sarah was done eating to state, “I know what they did to you.”

 “What are you…?” Then Sarah remembered. “Oh.”

 “I read your chart. In addition to the immediate injuries they treated you for, they were also able to see lingering effects from what you’ve physically suffered while in the mines.”

 “I tried to escape. They punished me,” Sarah answered matter-of-factly. “Nothing more to it, really.”

 “I felt it. Not all of it, but certainly enough to know. What they did was far more than unnecessary.”

 “He took… a twisted sort of pleasure in punishing me.” Sarah shivered. “I didn’t try to escape again.” She quickly added, “I would’ve eventually tried again, if the collapse hadn’t happened.”

 A spark of rage rose in the Doctor at Sarah’s first sentence, though he tamped down on it. “I’m sure you would have.”

 “Can I see your chart?” Sarah changed the subject. “It’s only fair if you’ve looked at mine.”

 The Doctor obliged, and got up to unclip the tablet from the empty bed.

 “Make sure you’re not hiding anything from me,” Sarah teased as she looked at the screen. When she finished, she remarked, “Good. Nothing too bad.”

 At Sarah’s yawn, the Doctor took the tablet from her and said, “You’re still exhausted from everything. Get some sleep.”

 Sarah didn’t protest, and smiled softly at the kiss to her forehead.

 Once Sarah had drifted into sleep, the Doctor stood and paced the room to calm his rising anger at the idea that the person who had hurt Sarah had found pleasure from doing it.

 ********

 Ketan did return in the morning after Sarah and the Doctor had eaten breakfast. They had a few hours of alternating pleasant conversation and peaceful quiet.

 The Doctor had somehow managed to fit himself on Sarah’s bed, lying on his side with his arm over her waist. They were simply enjoying the other’s company, occasionally giving soft kisses and touches.

 Then came the sound of muffled arguing outside the door. “Sounds like some kind of trouble,” Ketan commented, standing up to listen more closely.

 The Doctor also got to his feet, and went around to stand in front of Sarah in case the trouble was related to them. Sarah sat up, a spark of fear going through her when she thought she recognized one of the voices.

 The door opened a few seconds later, and Sarah gasped and shrank back at one of the men who walked in. The other wore a mine guard uniform. The Doctor noticed the way her hand tightly gripped the side of his shirt and glanced back to her. “Which one?” he asked very quietly, interpreting her reaction.

 “Left,” Sarah responded in a hushed whisper. For a split-second before the Doctor turned his attention back to the intruders, she saw an expression of fuming anger in his eyes.

 The Doctor took a small step to the side to hide Sarah behind him better.

 “I am Ajrek, senior assistant in managing the prisoner labourers of the west quadrant of the Aktreus Mine.” He spotted Sarah. “Ah, good, she is here and receiving treatment.”

 “Which I’m certain they already informed you,” Ketan responded. “I’m Ketan, senior engineer at the Nakda Technological Labs.”

 “Pleased to meet such an esteemed member of society. There’s no harm in checking for myself, is there? We do have to make certain our labourers are fine, especially after such an accident.”

 “You’ve seen her, now please relieve us of your presence,” the Doctor said, a hint of danger underlying his voice.

 Ajrek looked the Timelord over. “Who are you?” He noticed the bracelet on the Doctor’s wrist. “Another prisoner.”

 “Yes, he’s mine,” Ketan affirmed.

 “Ah, I see. Sarah was arrested with a man. I also recognize that expression as one so similar to hers.”

 “He’s also responsible for helping me rescue some of your trapped guards and labourers,” Ketan stated.

 “Then I extend my thanks.”

 “Tell me… Ajrek, was it? Tell me, was the savage treatment of Sarah necessary?” Despite the polite wording, there was no mistaking the ire in the Timelord’s voice. Any remaining calmness disappeared when he stated, “It nearly got her killed.”

 “Doctor.” Sarah’s hand moved to grasp his forearm.

 “I assure you, my disciplinary methods are within the parameters of prisoner treatment rules. Which includes being seen by a medic afterwards. She would’ve been fine if this accident hadn’t happened.”

 “I don’t care for your excuses,” the Doctor growled. He didn’t look back when Sarah tugged on his arm.

 “Excuses? That is simply fact.”

 “That is no reason to be so brutal.” The Doctor’s hand clenched at his side as he raised himself to his full height, his stare steely.

 Ajrek didn’t back down, and even smirked as he stepped closer. He glanced around to Sarah, then met the Doctor’s gaze again. “She learned the lesson. At least for the time being.” He chuckled. “Part of me hopes she hasn’t completely learned it. She’s quite… enticing in such a position.”

 Sarah felt the Doctor’s entire body tense, and sensed what he wanted to do, what he was barely stopping himself from doing. “Don’t,” she said, tugging his arm again.

 “That’s enough,” Ketan warned.

 “She’s your Sarah, isn’t she?” Ajrek kept his eyes locked with the other man’s. “I can imagine what you’re feeling right now. I can tell you what I felt, when she was on her knees and begging me to stop-“

 The Doctor took one step forward, rage in his eyes now. Ketan pushed herself between the two men, and repeated, "That’s enough.”

 “Yes, assault would certainly not look good on your list of offenses,” Ajrek taunted.

 Ketan turned fully to Ajrek. “As I’m sure you’ve also been informed, Sarah has been transferred to me.”

 “For the time being, yes. It won’t be long until she’s back working in the mine.” At the silence from the others, Ajrek laughed. “You really think their sentence will be overturned?”

 “You’ve seen Sarah, now get out,” Ketan commanded. “If you don’t leave, I will have you kicked out. You have no responsibility over either of them, and therefore no reason to antagonize them.”

 Ajrek took a step back. “Very well. Sarah, Doctor, enjoy your time together. You will be back with us soon enough. I look forward to it.” With that, he and his guard left.

 The hospital security guard had the decency to look apologetic to the three people in the room before he closed the door.

 “Now I appreciate your insistence on personally being here with us,” the Doctor said to Ketan.

 Ketan stared at the door. “Yes, I… considered that someone might try to take advantage.”

 The Doctor finally turned back to Sarah. His eyes widened as she also stared to the door, her body trembling. He sat on the bed and turned her face to him.

 “I’m fine,” Sarah responded, breaking out of the spell. Her half-panicked tone betrayed her words. “I’m alright.” Still, she melted into the Doctor’s protective embrace. Then a sob broke through. “What if… if I’m forced to go back?”

 The Doctor made soothing sounds and rubbed Sarah’s back. “I won’t let that happen,” he promised with a kiss to the top of her head.


	17. Chapter 17

 “They want to question you,” Ketan stated when she walked into the Doctor’s and Sarah’s room the next morning. She lightly rubbed at her injured forearm, which now was missing the wrapping.

 “Don’t see why they couldn’t have done that in the first place,” the Doctor replied after swallowing a bite of his breakfast.

 Ketan cleared her throat. “Yes, well…”

 “Progress, right?” Sarah said before putting a spoonful of fruit cubes into her mouth.

 “I’d certainly say so,” Ketan agreed. “They want to question you separately and together.”

 “And how long will it take for them to see us?” the Timelord inquired. “A day? Two maybe?”

 Sarah laid her hand on the Doctor’s forearm to calm him down. He’d been in a simmering bad mood since the altercation with Ajrek yesterday. For her part, Sarah was trying not to think of Ajrek’s taunts and eagerness to get her back in the mine, or she would be just as afraid as the Doctor was angry.

 Ketan didn’t let the Doctor’s mood get to her. “A couple of hours, actually.”

 “Now, that is a surprise,” the Doctor nodded. “Finally, a sense of urgency over an injustice. If they continue to drag their feet any more after this, this has all been a farce.”

 “I wouldn’t recommend saying that to their faces,” Ketan advised.

 “He can turn on the charm when he needs to,” Sarah responded. “So, you’ve been dealing with these people on our behalf, right?”

 “Yes.”

 “What should we expect?”

 “State what you need to in a detailed manner, but also give them a sense of who you are. They already possess evidence for and against you. Since I’ve been vouching for you as people as well as giving evidence in your favor, I think that’s what they’ll be more interested in.”

 “So they’re meeting us to decide if we are crazy terrorists or well-adjusted civilized people. Got it,” Sarah nodded.

 “I’m sure you can convince them of the latter,” Ketan replied with a smile. She sat in the unoccupied chair and took out her tablet to get some work done.

 Soon after Sarah and the Doctor finished breakfast, a medical doctor came in to check on Sarah’s healing progress. The Timelord quietly observed, making sure for himself that nothing was missed. While their prisoner status hadn’t gotten them any ill or substandard treatment so far, he wasn’t going to let any such treatment slip through without notice if it did happen.

 Sarah’s healing was on schedule, and they were going to take off the wrapping around her chest tomorrow.  After another exam tomorrow, they would determine if she was healthy enough to be released. Sarah hoped that this entire situation would be resolved in their favor before then, or she feared she would be sent back to the Aktreus mine without a second thought and left there with no chance to escape or plead her case again.

 A couple of hours later, the guard outside the door came inside to say, “Doctor, you are to be taken to a meeting room.”

 The Doctor kissed Sarah on the cheek as he stood and stretched his legs.

 “Remember, no insulting or antagonizing,” Sarah half-joked.

 “Since when do I do such things?”

 Sarah laughed lightly. “It’s been known to happen.”

 “Don’t worry, I’ll be on my best behavior,” the man replied as he headed out the door.

 Sarah didn’t have much time to consider how the Doctor was getting on, because a man and woman came in, accompanied by a guard, to question her. Ketan quietly excused herself from the room.

 Everything hinged on how this went, and Sarah was nervous. If she said the wrong thing, she and the Doctor would be separated again, and she’d be back in the mine and in Ajrek’s clutches again.

 She answered as honestly and correctly as she could about the situation in which they had been found and arrested in and their actions and intentions, while also trying to come off as friendly as she could manage. That didn’t exactly come naturally, considering that these two were part of the group that had judged them guilty and sentenced them with barely a thought.

 A few minutes after Sarah’s interview, the Doctor was brought back, followed by two men and a woman dressed similarly to the pair that had questioned her. It only took a little grin from the Doctor to get the feeling that his solo interview had gone well. That gave her a little more confidence now that they were being questioned together. The Doctor certainly had turned up his charm, though Sarah could still see an underlying tenseness from his earlier anger. He seemed to be hiding it from the judges well enough.

 This interview round went by more quickly, and when the group of judges left with an assurance that their decision would be made by tomorrow evening at the latest, Sarah could only hope they had done enough to convince them of their innocence and good character.

 “If things don’t go our way with this, is there anything else we can do?” Sarah asked the Doctor, her anxiety rising again.

 The Doctor took Sarah’s hand and kissed the back of it. “I don’t know. I think the only avenues left to us would be of the drastic kind.”

 Ketan entered the room and quickly asked, “How do you think you did?”

 “I think… as well we could,” Sarah answered. “I couldn’t really get a read on what they were thinking.”

 “Yes, that was rather frustrating, but I think I was able to read them a little more than you. From the impression I have, they were at the least slightly leaning in our favor.”

 Sarah smiled a bit at the Timelord’s words. “Well, whichever way it goes, we’ll know tomorrow.” She didn’t want to completely get her hopes up. She had to be mentally prepared in case the worst happened. Sarah rubbed at the bracelet on her wrist as she asked, “Ketan, if this doesn’t work out, is there anything else we could do?”

 Ketan sighed, “I think this is our one shot to get you both out of this. I’d be out of ideas to convince them to look at your case again and in submitting more evidence. At best, I could request to permanently have responsibility for you in addition to the Doctor.”

 “That is without a doubt better than the alternative,” the Doctor stated. “And it would be much appreciated.”

 Ketan nodded. “I’ll start setting that up, just in case.”

 Sarah briefly squeezed the Doctor’s hand, knowing he was already thinking through possibilities for drastic actions to prevent their separation and her abuse happening again. She started thinking of ideas, too.


	18. Chapter 18

 The news came sooner than expected, in the morning of the next day, before the medical personnel came in to examine Sarah to see if she was fit to be released. One of the judges came in, with a senior police officer in tow. Ketan looked up from her work, also anxious to know what was going to happen to them.

 “Your sentence has been reversed, and you are released from it,” the judge stated.

 Sarah smiled, and the Doctor nodded. He said, “Not as swift as you sentencing us, but it’ll do.” Sarah discreetly elbowed him.

 The policeman approached with a small device, and instructed, “Lift your wrists, please.”

 “Gladly.” Sarah lifted her arm, and she watched as the hidden clasp emerged from the bracelet, and the officer removed it. She rubbed at her wrist, though the bracelet hadn’t caused any physical irritation. She was finally free of the damned thing, and of the mines, and of any other punishment possible.

 The Doctor took Sarah’s hand as soon as his bracelet was off. “I’m glad justice to our person was finally allowed to prevail,” he said to the judge.

 “We apologize for any inconvenience,” the judge replied before she left with the police officer.

 “Inconvenience?” the Doctor echoed as soon as the door closed. “There are far more accurate descriptions for all of this.”

 “I think that’s the most apology you’ll get,” Ketan pointed out with a small smile.

 “Who cares? We’re free now!” Sarah pulled the Doctor in for a tight hug. “I don’t have to go back there again, and we can get in the Tardis and go whenever I’m cleared.”

 The Doctor kissed her to show his happiness at the news. “Yes, that is what matters.”

 

 The doctor assigned to Sarah came in a little later to take off the chest wrapping and do another examination. Even if it was determined that she would stay in the hospital for another week, Sarah would still be in high spirits with knowing she and the Doctor were finally free.

 As it was, Sarah’s body had healed enough where she could be medically released, with the cautioning to take it easy for a while. Despite the technology greatly accelerating the healing, her body still needed the time to heal the rest of the way on its own. Sarah could feel that she wasn’t at one-hundred percent, and didn’t question the advice.

 Ketan came back into the room to the couple kissing deeply. “Even more good news?” she asked with a raised brow.

 Sarah broke off to answer, “As soon as they get me clothes, we can go.” She giggled as the Doctor’s mouth moved down to kiss her neck.

 Ketan chuckled, “The sooner that happens the better, or you’ll both be missing clothes when they come in.”

 The Doctor mock-pouted as he pulled away from Sarah. “I can behave.”

 “Yes, but will you is the question,” Sarah teased.

 The Doctor simply took Sarah’s hand between his and held it.

 “I know you were thinking of drastic actions if this didn’t go your way,” Ketan brought up. “Do I want to know?”

 The Doctor shrugged. “They all involved a daring escape from this hospital.”

 “Naturally.”

 “Dodging guards and police all the way back to the Tardis, where the two of us could focus on removing the bracelets.”

 “Want in?” Sarah asked with a cheeky grin.

 “Oh no, sounds much too exciting for my taste, especially after all the recent excitement we’ve had.”

 The three of them laughed easily.

 Once all the paperwork was cleared and Sarah was given a set of basic clothes to leave in, Ketan took them back to Nakda Technological Labs so that the Doctor could pick up his things. Politely, she waited outside the door to his quarters while he did so.

 “Much nicer than the rooms in the mine, that’s for sure,” Sarah commented as the Timelord went into the bedroom to find the rest of his things.

 “I would’ve preferred us to share this space, instead of what actually happened,” the Doctor called back.

 “Me too.” Sarah gingerly stretched, feeling an ache in her ribcage. “Still, it’s all worked out.”

 The Doctor came out, stuffing his yoyo and other knick-knacks into his jacket pockets. Then he opened the drawer under the computer and pulled out several sheets of paper and a pen.

 Sarah sat next to him on the couch as he started drawing. “Okay,” she said after a moment. “What are you doing?”

 “Ketan deserves more than a simple thank you.”

 Sarah didn’t question further when she realized what he was drawing and writing. Diagrams and notes for what looked like devices and the like. She teased, “You sure you don’t want to join this place as a full-time job?”

 “I already have one of those.”

 “Oh?”

 “Traveling with you.”

 “I don’t think that’s considered a job,” Sarah laughed. Then she laid her head on his shoulder as he quickly sketched and wrote through the pages.

 “There,” the man said when he finished. “That should help in her work.” He folded them together and slipped them in his inside jacket pocket.

 Ketan had an amused expression when the Doctor and Sarah emerged. “I was starting to wonder what was taking you so long.” Sarah didn’t miss the suggestive hint, and slightly blushed.

 “That eager to get rid of me?” the Doctor asked.

 “Not at all. You could stay, if you wanted.”

 “Lovely offer, but we have places to be.”

 “Yes, traveling in your… Tardis, did you call it? I assume that’s a ship of some sort?” At the nod, she offered, “Let me take you wherever you need to go? I assume it’s not far?”

 The Doctor directed Ketan as she drove them to where they had left the Tardis, which wasn’t far from the public park where this had all started.

 “A blue box?” Ketan asked when they approached it. “You travel around in this?”

 “The appearance is deceiving,” the Doctor said as he took out the key and placed it in the lock.

 “Thank you so much, for everything,” Sarah said to the engineer. “I don’t know what we would’ve done without all your help.”

 Ketan bowed her head. “I’m glad I could help. I wish the three of us had met in better circumstances.”

 “This is for you.” The Doctor took the folded pages from his jacket and handed them to Ketan.

 The engineer unfolded them and her eyes widened at the first page. She flickered through the others, then looked up at the Timelord. “Thank you, so very much. This will certainly help in our advancement.”

 “That’s the least I could do in return for what you’ve done for us,” the Doctor sincerely said. “No strings attached.”

 “Thank you,” Ketan beamed. “This is…” She collected herself. “Good luck on your travels.”

 “Good luck in your work,” Sarah replied before she and the Doctor stepped inside the Tardis and closed the door.

 Within a moment, they left Kartos.

 ********

 A while later, the Doctor and Sarah emerged from the shower together, towels around their waists as they entered their bedroom. They had needed a proper long soothing shower, full of tender touches and kisses as they cleaned themselves.

Sarah settled on the edge of the bed furthest from the bathroom door, and closed her eyes as she took a few breaths. She felt the bed dip behind her as the Doctor crawled over to her.

 Sarah shivered slightly as the Doctor’s fingers traced over her bare back, where Ajrek’s whip had left light marks that would soon fade. The joy of being freed and leaving Kartos had been replaced by a more somber mood from the Timelord.

 “How does it look back there?” Sarah quietly asked as the Doctor’s hand lingered around the healing stab wound.

 “Good,” the Doctor replied just as quietly. He settled on his knees behind Sarah and held her close to him, her back to his front. As his hand on her stomach lingered over her ribcage on the way up to settle on her collarbone, he asked, “How about here?”

 “Still a bit tender, everywhere, really,” Sarah answered. “To be expected.”

 The Doctor moved her damp hair aside with his other hand and dropped his head to her shoulder.

 Sarah relaxed into the hold. She took his free hand and held it on her thigh. She felt so safe and secure in this embrace.

 “I set the Tardis to float around the vortex for a while. We could do with the rest without risk of anything else happening.”

 Sarah hummed, and turned her head to kiss the Doctor’s temple. After a moment, she stated, “You’re not going to let me out of your reach.”

 The Doctor shook his head in acknowledgement.

 “Good.”

 The Doctor pulled back a little to look at the woman’s face in question.

 “Because I’m not letting you out of my reach, either.”

 They smiled softly, and closed their eyes, enjoying the quiet intimate bliss of their loving embrace.  


End file.
